Description: This outing will be a repeat of the very popular and practical nest workshops held for over twenty years. As usual it will be a very informal outing which has been timed to coincide with the peak of the breeding season. The morning will start with the usual very short presentation, including tips on the types of nests built by different species of birds, and how to find nests or nesting behaviour. This will be followed by several hours putting this into practice, with participants looking for breeding behaviour, signs of nests, etc. This will also allow plenty of opportunities for bird watching.
The workshop is particularly suitable for beginners or those relatively new to bird watching, though more experienced members and repeat customers are also very welcome.
Proposed attendees are reminded of the care that needs to be taken around breeding birds as outlined in the new COG Ethical Birding Guidelines which can be found through the link on the Home Page of the Canberra Birds website (Ethical Birding Guidelines – Canberra Birds; in particular, please read and follow the sections on Nesting Birds and Bird Photography).
Walking distance: While every year has been different, we often don’t walk very far as there usually is a “hot spot” where most of the breeding activity occurs around 500 m from where we park. Maximum distance = 2.0 km of easy flat walking.
Meeting time and place: Meet at 8:00 am at the far end of the car park. Take Northcott Drive up to the start of the Campbell Park Offices, where you take the right fork and keep to the outside of the very large car park, skirting it until you get to the end. Intending participants might also like to look at the Campbell Park map on the COG website under the Maps, Forms and Lists button.
End Time: Between 11 am and 12 pm. Please remember to bring morning tea which we will have out in the field.
Name of leader and contact details: Registration is essential no later than Friday 8 November. To participate, please contact Jack Holland by email on jandaholland@bigpond.com – please include your name and mobile number, and emergency contact name and mobile number. If you are new to birding and need to borrow binoculars, please advise Jack when you register.
Thirty members and guests, including five younger people, joined me for the twenty-second running of this annual event. Again, the emailing of the notes beforehand allowed me to largely dispense with the short spiel at the start, and we soon headed off towards the horse gate, where the main activity had been noted during the reccie a couple of days before. Sue Lashko had again kindly offered to help lead so we could split up into two groups, exchanging notes whenever we passed each other, and then again at morning tea.
As for 2023, it was a somewhat different morning as, perhaps due to the very dry conditions with no rain for over 3 weeks, there was clearly reduced bird activity (though it seemed to increase around/after morning teatime), and as a result the least breeding activity ever observed. Even the Noisy Miner numbers and activity seemed more subdued than usual, with only one group seeing them both carrying food and feeding a dependent young.
The best confirmed breeding observation of the morning was a pair of Weebills busily taking food to their young through the side entrance of a dome-shaped nest at head height in a sapling. A pair of Striated Pardalotes was also photographed going in and out of a small hole in a dead gum. Otherwise breeding activity was confined mainly to the parrot family inspecting nest holes, in particular Crimson Rosellas which seemed to be the most abundant, or at least conspicuous, species of the morning. A pair of Nankeen Kestrels was flying out over the grassland and returning to the tree near the big (completely dry) dam where they bred a few years ago. Though some possible territorial defence was noted, they did not seem to be taking in food. A pair of Little Corellas was also observed allopreening in this tree.
There were a couple of observations of recent breeding, the first being a still streaked bird with buff wing bars, concluded likely to be a juvenile/immature Flame Robin probably from the recent breeding event here. It was seen by both groups (and photographed by Teo, surprisingly in amongst the dead branchlets/foliage, though the earlier group had seen it about a metre off the ground, then flying down to the ground and back) about an hour apart in much the same location, but no adult was seen. The alternative of a Scarlet Robin was ruled out as none of this species had been reported from there since early October, or has ever been observed during this workshop, the Flame Robin having been recorded breeding there in 2014 and 2018.
The second bird, seen by one group, was a very plain bird with a light green back, the main feature being the barring under the tail. It had limited, if any, barring on the breast/throat and no clear dark eye-stripe. The diagnostic rufous sides to the tail were not able to be seen as the bird moved around but were clear on Teo’s photograph, which confirmed it as a juvenile/immature Horsfield Bronze-Cuckoo (the other group had heard one, likely an adult, earlier). A Buff-rumped Thornbill was close but not seen to feed it.
No confirmed breeding activity was observed for other birds that usually nest there. A pair of Leaden Flycatchers were moving around and calling occasionally when we first arrived at the horse gate. Both groups had very good views of White-throated Gerygones calling around there, but the Western Gerygone was heard only by one group. Quite a few Grey Fantails were flitting about, but with no clear breeding activity noted, nor was there for several Noisy Friarbird, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes and Rufous Whistlers. A Mistletoebird flew over calling while we were having morning tea at the horse gate and allowed good views for some as it moved around in a mistletoe for a short while. A Grey Shrike-thrush, unusual for this Workshop, was also heard calling several times, and most of the combined group had good views of a Sacred Kingfisher towards the end of the morning.
White-winged Trillers, for which breeding activity has been observed most years, were not recorded, nor were Dusky Woodswallows, also regular breeders in the past, Olive-backed Orioles, often heard and occasionally found breeding, or Varied Sittellas. Unexpected species were a couple of Striated Thornbills (only observed once before) and a Yellow Thornbill (quite yellow under and with an orange spot under the chin), a first for this workshop.
A total of 42 species was seen on the morning, only slightly down from previous years, but some of the birds did not allow good views. Only 7 species were confirmed to be breeding at some level; hollow nesters accounted for more than half of them. Checking my notes, this is the lowest ever and nearly 50% down on the previous low in 2023.
Participants continue to enjoy this very popular outing, and my sincere thanks again to Sue Lashko for helping lead the very large group. However, with the consistent decline in breeding activity at this spot over the past few years (for the first time there wasn’t the usual hum of activity), the viability of this as a Nest Workshop can be questioned, though it remains a very good spot for an outing in mid spring.
Jack Holland
