COURSE REPORTS Field Techniques In Bird Studies November-December 2012 Report On The Course And Summary Of Results Each year a group of students, some funded by 1 Red-necked Stint, 1 Greater Sand Plover and 1 BirdLife Western Australia, come down to Eyre with Grey Plover. us for a course on birds. In 2012 there were six On the trip to Twilight Cove we were able to add 2 people taking part, Ashleigh, Fiona, Jamie, Kate, Neil Sanderling, 1 Greenshank, 7 more Grey Plovers and and Ross. Tegan Douglas and I ran the course and it 4 more Red-necked Stints. went smoothly, despite some wet and windy weather. On the beach 34 Red-capped Plovers, 5 Pied Many mallees were flowering, so the honeyeaters Oystercatchers, 2 Caspian and 43 Crested Terns, were in good numbers. 1 Pacific and 14 Silver Gulls, 4 Pelicans, 2 Pied and 4 Little Black Cormorants, 4 Grey Teal, 2 White-faced Heron, 4 Australian Raven and 1 Australian Pipit were recorded. Travelling to and from Twilight Cove we saw many more birds, but no new species. A beach-washed Wedge-tailed Eagle was also found. back row (L->R): Joyce, Stephen, Ross and Neil, front row Tegan, Jamie, Ashleigh, Kate and Fiona Our mist netting on the first day was fruitful, especially around the flowering eucalypts near the southern dunes and north of the observatory. Mist- netting is intended to give people close contact with the birds they will be watching over the rest of the course. In the event we caught 87 birds of nine species, including two six year old New Holland Honeyeaters. Our total efforts yielded 1 White- Jamie spotting Kestrels at Twilight Cove – by Tegan Douglas browed Scrubwren, 1 Inland Thornbill, 1 Grey Shrike- thrush, 1 Red Wattlebird, 2 Spiny-cheeked Over the years the results of counts of birds on these Honeyeaters, 7 Singing Honeyeaters, 3 Brown courses have given us a long-term picture of the Honeyeaters, 53 New Holland Honeyeaters, 2 White- changes in bird numbers around the observatory. In browed Babblers and 16 Silvereyes. some years there are many honeyeaters and Given the abundance and diversity of honeyeaters silvereyes, in others very few. Point counts are good around the observatory, we spent a fruitful morning indicators of these mobile birds. On the other hand recording the behaviour of various honeyeater the mapping technique gives good figures for species. resident, territorial species, and provides indicators of changes in the abundance of these species. The results of the previous 30 years have been published in Corella (2010) 34:1-6. Here is a summary of the results of the various counts that we made at Eyre in 2012. Point Counts: For the Point Counts along the West Track we calculated (by graphing and calculation) the densities of seven species, as shown in Table 1. Comparing the figures with the previous year, you can see some changes in them. Neil, Fiona, Jamie and Kate at the banding table The wader count along Kanidal Beach was interesting with three transcontinental migrants. Table 1: Bird density (birds/ha) calculated from Point Table 3: Bird density (birds/ha) calculated during the Counts along the West Track. territory mapping exercise. Year 2011 2012Date 2011 2012 Species Species Spotted Pardalote 1.4 1.09 Spotted Pardalote 0.53 White-browed Scrubwren 0.4 Inland Thornbill 0.71 0.62 Singing Honeyeater 1.82 0.82 Blue-breasted Fairy Wren 1.38 0.53 Brown Honeyeater 1.59 White-browed Scrubwren 1.02 0.89 New Holland Honeyeater 0.41 1.59 Brown-headed Honeyeater 0.35 Red Wattlebird 2.42 1.9 White-browed Babbler 0.27 0.89 Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater 0.4 Grey Shrike-thrush 0.27 0.27 Grey Butcherbird 0.45 Grey Butcherbird 0.13 0.188 Grey Currawong 0.29 Australian Raven 0.13 The densities from Point Counts are more realistic for Silvereye 4.32 2.75 non-territorial birds than the mapping figures. They suggest that there are more New Holland Honeyeaters than in 2011, a trend supported by the ABC Surveys: The Australian Bird Count (ABC ABC counts, and slightly fewer Red Wattlebirds and count) was made in five areas – the standard three Silvereyes than last year. About as many Spotted observatory areas 1, 2 and 3 and also areas east and Pardalotes as last year were encountered on the west of the track that runs down to the beach over point counts; they had probably already bred the top of the dunes. These last two counts looked at successfully and fledged young, and were also rehabilitated areas. Survey results are summarised in apparent during mapping. Table 2. This comparison is of interest as some In the rehabilitated areas both the Singing species show preference for either the established or Honeyeater and the New Holland, were common, the rehabilitated vegetation. Singing slightly more common in the standard, Table 2: Summary of ABC Counts at Eyre Bird undisturbed ABC areas than the New Holland Observatory 2012, showing total numbers seen, with Honeyeaters. The Red Wattlebird was absent from approximate densities/ha in brackets. both areas but the White-browed Babbler was common in the rehabilitated areas this year, and mapping showed it to be more abundant than in Standard Rehab 2011. Area searches 6 ha 4 ha The Silvereye was abundant around the Observatory Species but, as last year, few were seen in the rehabilitated Brush Bronzewing 1(0.16) 2(0.5) areas. The density of the Blue-breasted Fairy-wren Blue-breasted Fairy-wren 3(0.5) 6(1.5) decreased significantly around the Observatory again this year, but it remains established in the White-browed Scrubwren 5(0.84) 7(1.8) rehabilitated areas. The density of this species had Inland Thornbill 1(0.16) 0(0) declined steadily in recent years, so a decrease since Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater 6(1) 2(0.5) the increase in 2010 and 2011 is of concern but evidence of its ability to colonise rehabilitated areas Singing Honeyeater 7(1.16) 8(2) is welcome. New Holland Honeyeater 4(0.67) 7(1.75) As in 2011 the Spotted Pardalote was so abundant Brown Honeyeater 1(0.16) 0(0) that it was difficult to delimit their territories in the Grey Shrike-thrush 2(0.33) 1(0.25) mapping exercise, so the estimate of density is approximate at best. White-browed Babbler 3(0.5) 7(1.75) Comparing all the counting methods shows some Australian Raven 12(2) 1(0.25) agreement in trends, but usually it is best to compare Silvereye 9(1.5) 4(1) the results from a count method with the results for the same method from a previous year to get an idea of trends for individual species. Mapping: By mapping bird territories over 17.5 hectares around the observatory we had sufficient With regards to non-bird sightings, we altogether observations to calculate densities for eight species caught ten species of reptiles, some in the pit traps (Table 3). The densities for the same species and some by hand. These included the Masters calculated from the 2011 territory mapping are snake Drysdalia mastersii, the sand dragon included for comparison. Ctenophorus maculatus, the western heath dragon Tympanocryptis adelaidensis, the marbled gecko Phyllodactylus mamoratus, the barking gecko Underwoodisaurus millii, the pygopod Pygopus lepidopodus, and the skinks Cryptoblepharus virgatus, Ctenotus brooksi, Morethia obscura and the bobtail Tiliqua rugosa. We also saw a dugite and found a very lively female, juvenile Elephant Seal on the beach. Several large rays were also observed swimming close to shore. We inspected a few pygmy possum nest boxes, some containing fresh leaves but none currently inhabited. Stephen Davies and Tegan Douglas December 2012 Juvenile/female Elephant Seal – by Neil Hamilton .