[Birding-Aus] Amazing birding experiences - honeyeater migration
Paul Dodd
Point Addis on the south coast of Victoria, Ruth and I decided to visit and
see for ourselves. I must say that we were not disappointed! I suspect that
the numbers of birds that we were seeing were a little less than reported by
Richard and others in the previous couple of weeks, but a spectacular
experience nonetheless.
>From the point itself, looking back over the scrub we saw many honeyeaters
flitting from bush to bush – most were White-naped and Yellow-faced. Every
so often a large flock, of maybe several hundred birds, would take off and
move further inland. We then drove back inland along the access road to the
carpark at the nature walk (not the Ironbark Discovery Walk) and stopped
there for a while. The trees around the carpark were swarming with
White-naped, Yellow-faced, New Holland and White-eared honeyeaters and many,
many Eastern Spinebills. In addition there were literally hundreds and
hundreds of Silvereyes – all race Lateralis, as best as we could tell. The
birds were certainly too numerous for us to count or even estimate numbers
with any precision. It certainly appeared that the birds were passing
through, though – for a number of minutes we’d see almost nothing but
White-naped then they would start to thin out and we’d see only New Hollands
for a few minutes, after that they might be replaced by Yellow-faced and
then the cycle would start over again. Eastern Spinebills were continuously
present in numbers greater than we’d ever seen at the same time. Also the
Silvereyes were continuously present in large numbers.
>From this location we moved further north to the Discovery Walk in the
Ironbark forest. We saw a small number of Crescent Honeyeaters – certainly
not the large numbers seen by others (I wonder if they have finished
migrating?) We then found a waterhole on the walk and stopped there for
about 45 minutes – during that time there was an endless number of mostly
White-naped Honeyeaters flying in, having a quick bath and a drink and
flying on. At times there would be 30-40 honeyeaters in the (tiny) waterhole
with hundreds in the trees surrounding the waterhole waiting their turn.
This really should be one of those “must-do” experiences for birders, I
think. It is absolutely incredible to see these birds in such numbers – and
to see them in such a continuous stream.
Next year I think we’ll visit a few weeks earlier – maybe from the beginning
of April.
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Melbourne
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Carol Probets
Yellow-faced and White-naped Honeyeater migration on the south coast
of Victoria:
"This really should be one of those 'must-do' experiences for
birders, I think. It is absolutely incredible to see these birds in
Indeed it is! This year in Katoomba, NSW, the migration has been
happening steadily but numbers have been relatively low. On many days
I've had flocks of 50 or so going over my house every few minutes
throughout the morning hours, but none of the really phenomenal days
that I've had in some years (e.g. autumn 2006 when I estimated up to
7500 birds per hour flying over my house).
What is interesting is that many of the honeyeaters seem to be flying
west this year, rather than a purely northwards movement. Perhaps an
indication that this will be a good inland year here in
central-eastern NSW. The growing honeyeater activity in the Capertee
Valley at the moment backs this up.
Cheers,
Carol
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carol Probets
Guided birding in the Blue Mountains & Capertee Valley
PO Box 330
Katoomba NSW 2780
Web: http://www.bmbirding.com.au
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Arwen B. Ximenes
Carol, this makes more sense to me now because the first flocks of migrating honeyeaters I saw (at Lawson, approx. 15 kms east of Katoomba) were heading west. Then there seemed to be a shift northwards for a while, now they seem to be heading in both directions (I guess it just depends when you're looking out the window - some have been going south too - go figure!) I thought they would have started petering out by now - I'm going to miss them when they do. They like stopping off to feed in our Banksias (spinifolia, I think), so it would be nice to plant some more.
While we're on flocks - this morning we saw flocks of 100 or so Feral Pigeons flying over Bullaburra and Lawson - they didn't seem to have any particular goal, just swooping around up high in fairly tight formations. Any idea what that's about?
cheers,
Arwen
......................................... Arwen Blackwood Ximenes
Lawson, Blue Mountains, NSWar...@hotmail.com
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John Tongue
Could the pigeons be racing pigeons? Owners let them out most days
for exercise, and they fly around 'aimlessly' in tight groups.
John Tongue
Ulverstone, TAs.
On 11/05/2008, at 12:56 PM, Arwen B. Ximenes wrote:
>
> Carol, this makes more sense to me now because the first flocks of
> migrating honeyeaters I saw (at Lawson, approx. 15 kms east of
> Katoomba) were heading west. Then there seemed to be a shift
> northwards for a while, now they seem to be heading in both
> directions (I guess it just depends when you're looking out the
> window - some have been going south too - go figure!) I thought
> they would have started petering out by now - I'm going to miss
> them when they do. They like stopping off to feed in our Banksias
> (spinifolia, I think), so it would be nice to plant some more.
>
> While we're on flocks - this morning we saw flocks of 100 or so
> Feral Pigeons flying over Bullaburra and Lawson - they didn't seem
> to have any particular goal, just swooping around up high in fairly
> tight formations. Any idea what that's about?
> cheers,
> Arwen
> ......................................... Arwen Blackwood Ximenes
> Lawson, Blue Mountains, NSWar...@hotmail.com
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Arwen B. Ximenes
yes, thanks. Indeed this makes a lot of sense, though I don't know anything about the sport - I have seen utes squished full of pigeons around from time to time, one not long ago - and I did wonder... incidentally, today's pigeons were probably the 'blue bar' type.
It's rather a relief they're not 'wild' because there were a lot of them!btw - Happy Mother's Day to all the 'hens' out there.
A
......................................... Arwen Blackwood Ximenes
Lawson, Blue Mountains, NSWar...@hotmail.com > Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 13:44:42 +1000> To: arw...@hotmail.com> From: ab...@optusnet.com.au> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Amazing birding experiences - honeyeater migration> > > > Sounds like racing pigeons> > Andy> > > > > >Carol, this makes more sense to me now because the first flocks of > >migrating honeyeaters I saw (at Lawson, approx. 15 kms east of > >Katoomba) were heading west. Then there seemed to be a shift > >northwards for a while, now they seem to be heading in both > >directions (I guess it just depends when you're looking out the > >window - some have been going south too - go figure!) I thought they > >would have started petering out by now - I'm going to miss them when > >they do. They like stopping off to feed in our Banksias (spinifolia, > >I think), so it would be nice to plant some more.> >> >While we're on flocks - this morning we saw flocks of 100 or so > >Feral Pigeons flying over Bullaburra and Lawson - they didn't seem > >to have any particular goal, just swooping around up high in fairly > >tight formations. Any idea what that's about?> >cheers,> >Arwen> >......................................... Arwen Blackwood Ximenes> >Lawson, Blue Mountains, NSWar...@hotmail.com> >_________________________________________________________________> >Search for local singles online @ Lavalife - Click here> >http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Flavalife9%2Eninemsn%2Ecom%2Eau%2Fclickthru%2Fclickthru%2Eact%3Fid%3Dninemsn%26context%3Dan99%26locale%3Den%5FAU%26a%3D30290&_t=764581033&_r=email_taglines_Search_OCT07&_m=EXTwww.birding-aus.org> >birding-aus.blogspot.com> >> >To unsubscribe from this mailing list,> >send the message:> >unsubscribe> >(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)> >to: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au>
Arwen B. Ximenes
Dear Kurtis,
Thanks for your suggestion, I hadn't thought of that - although I think they're unlikely to be Topknots in the Blue Mountains (although I may stand corrected). From your comparison of the flight of these two birds I would think they were Ferals. cheers, Arwen
......................................... Arwen Blackwood Ximenes
Lawson, Blue Mountains, NSWar...@hotmail.com > From: little...@bigpond.com> To: arw...@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Amazing birding experiences - honeyeater migration(racing pigeons)> Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 18:20:54 +1000> > Arwen,> > Are you sure the Pigeons weren't Topknots?> These guys can form pretty tight, large flocks and fly around in circles > quite high in the sky.> From a distance their colouration depicts the 'bluebar' colouration of Feral > Pigeon, Topknots are generally longer, with larger tails and fly at a slower > speed than the Ferals.> > Kurtis Lindsay> > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Arwen B. Ximenes" <arw...@hotmail.com>> To: <ab...@optusnet.com.au>; <js...@iprimus.com.au>> Cc: <birdi...@vicnet.net.au>> Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2008 2:37 PM> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Amazing birding experiences - honeyeater > migration(racing pigeons)> > > > yes, thanks. Indeed this makes a lot of sense, though I don't know anything > about the sport - I have seen utes squished full of pigeons around from time > to time, one not long ago - and I did wonder... incidentally, today's > pigeons were probably the 'blue bar' type.> It's rather a relief they're not 'wild' because there were a lot of > them!btw - Happy Mother's Day to all the 'hens' out there.> A> ......................................... Arwen Blackwood Ximenes> Lawson, Blue Mountains, NSWar...@hotmail.com > Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 > 13:44:42 +1000> To: arw...@hotmail.com> From: ab...@optusnet.com.au> > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Amazing birding experiences - honeyeater > migration> > > > Sounds like racing pigeons> > Andy> > > > > >Carol, this > makes more sense to me now because the first flocks of > >migrating > honeyeaters I saw (at Lawson, approx. 15 kms east of > >Katoomba) were > heading west. Then there seemed to be a shift > >northwards for a while, now > they seem to be heading in both > >directions (I guess it just depends when > you're looking out the > >window - some have been going south too - go > figure!) I thought they > >would have started petering out by now - I'm > going to miss them when > >they do. They like stopping off to feed in our > Banksias (spinifolia, > >I think), so it would be nice to plant some more.> > >> >While we're on flocks - this morning we saw flocks of 100 or so > >Feral > Pigeons flying over Bullaburra and Lawson - they didn't seem > >to have any > particular goal, just swooping around up high in fairly > >tight formations. > Any idea what that's about?> >cheers,> >Arwen> > >......................................... Arwen Blackwood Ximenes> >Lawson, > Blue Mountains, NSWar...@hotmail.com> > >_________________________________________________________________> >Search > for local singles online @ Lavalife - Click here> > >http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Flavalife9%2Eninemsn%2Ecom%2Eau%2Fclickthru%2Fclickthru%2Eact%3Fid%3Dninemsn%26context%3Dan99%26locale%3Den%5FAU%26a%3D30290&_t=764581033&_r=email_taglines_Search_OCT07&_m=EXTwww.birding-aus.org> > >birding-aus.blogspot.com> >> >To unsubscribe from this mailing list,> >send > the message:> >unsubscribe> >(in the body of the message, with no Subject > line)> >to: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au>> _________________________________________________________________> Search for local singles online @ Lavalife - Click here> http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Flavalife9%2Eninemsn%2Ecom%2Eau%2Fclickthru%2Fclickthru%2Eact%3Fid%3Dninemsn%26context%3Dan99%26locale%3Den%5FAU%26a%3D30290&_t=764581033&_r=email_taglines_Search_OCT07&_m=EXT==========www.birding-aus.org> birding-aus.blogspot.com> > To unsubscribe from this mailing list,> send the message:> unsubscribe> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)> to: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au> =========== >
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Carol Probets
I'm only aware of one sighting - the one seen by Evan Beaver last
year at Blaxland. Like Arwen, I also saw a large tight flock of
pigeons on the weekend going over my house at Katoomba. My first
thought was "Are they Topknots?" but on looking closer realised they
were just racing pigeons. Must have been the weekend for them to be
out.
Cheers,
Carol
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