Bird report June 2022

Life is about to get a bit frantic for me with Census results coming out tomorrow.  So I am a day or two early with the June Report.  As usual:

1. I will update the report if any exciting sightings come to my notice (that has happened with receipt of a list from Gabo Island adding 4 species to the month list): and
2. Very much as usual; after nearly drafting this report I recorded an additional species (Little Grassbird) so have already had to act on point 1!

Overall a good diversity of birds were reported this month, with 131taxa listed across the District.  I suspect the list would have been longer had a planned pelagic from Eden into Victorian waters gone ahead: in view of the weather a very sensible decision to pull the pin.  By way of balance, a tour group did visit for a period spanning late May and early June and added a number of less common species to the list.

A total list of species is here.  In summary we did somewhat better than May 2021 and recorded more species than June 2021.

I don't rate any species as a "rip your shirt off" exciting observation for this month, but nice-to-see sightings include:

• Brown Quail: a covey of 6 at Shipwreck Creek;
• Buff-banded Rail and Black-shouldered Kite from Gabo are both infrequently reported in the area.
• Hoary-headed Grebe: still in relatively small numbers but a raft of 52 birds were seen in Double Creek Arm on 25 June.  It is normal to see a few of this species in the Inlet in Winter, but that is an unusually large aggregation away from the WWTP.
• Nankeen Night-Heron is back to being seen regularly in the Pittosporums at Bucklands.
• Striated Heron 1-2 birds continue to be reported from a range of sites, mainly in and near Coulls Inlet.
• Pied Cormorant is relatively uncommon, so good to see 3 resting on floating vegetation off Seagull Island on 25 June.
• Very exciting to get reports of both Sooty Owl and Barn Owl (neither seen by me 😡).
• Glossy Black-Cockatoo and Ground Parrot are two of our specials!
• Southern Emuwren was only reported once but from a location where not previously reported since the fire. I shall do a special report on the species when I have downloaded the data for the first half of 2022.
• Tawny-crowned Honeyeater is another 'Mallacoota special' and reported from both the Gun Club and Shipwreck Creek.
• Flame Robin was rarely reported in the area until seen on a COG trip in 2021. The species now seems to regular around the airstrip in Winter.
• Beautiful Firetail was reported a couple of times from Shipwreck Creek (not seen by me 😡).

A couple of Missing In Actions:

• Hooded Plover has not been reported for a couple of months, presumably due to rough weather affecting their usual sites.
• Bassian Thrush has not been sighted this month. (😡, or worse.)

Categories

We have done well on Waterbirds and most Passerines.  We have done less well on:

Waders: There have been plenty of Bar-tailed Godwits and Red-capped Plovers on the sandbars near the mouth but few other waders.  Perhaps they are up on the Goodwin Sands - I could see a number of wader "shapes" when looking down from Angophora Drive with my telescope but at ~2.5km range couldn't try to guess the species.

Seabirds: A few species have come within ID range but most have been well out to sea.  Refer to comments above about pelagic outing.

Conservation Status

A sheet in the linked Google Sheet summarise the conservation status of the species recorded.  We had 3 species of concern at the National level and a further 6 of concern at the Victorian level.

Breeding Activity

Although we still have some weeks of Winter to endure the birds are beginning to move towards breeding. The specific records I have noted are:

• Whistling Kites carrying nesting material to the Angophoras near our house; and
• Masked Lapwings having at least 3 eggs in a nest on our neighbour's lawn.

We have relocated 19 of the 20 nest boxes erected at the Bunker Museum and look forward to seeing birds starting to use them as the season advances.

Birdlife topics

In recent months Mallacoota birders have participated in Birdlife Australia projects on Glossy Black Cockatoos and Australian Pelicans.  The summary results of this appeared in The Chat and I have copied a snip below.

The results of the pelican count are explicitly given in the poster.  As far as I am aware no-one found any Glossies in the Mallacoota area but there were feed trees identified.