List! How to set realistic bird list targets

Few more birders than usual should be stalking Tyto and other hotspots around Ingham over the coming weekend with shire-organised twitching days and nights.

So, how many birds should visitors expect if shire boasts of 240-plus species in Tyto Wetlands and many more in the wider district?

Give up? Don't care? Haven't a clue?

Here's a clue. Go to atlassing site such as ebirdEremaea, select hotspots, open, say, Tyto Wetlands, select last seen to gain chronological list. Now scroll down list, going back in time. Back three months, six months,a year, three years. At any point in time you get a count of species.

Taking a three-year back limit - because ebird listing really took off about then - you'll get 216 species for Tyto. For the top Australian hotspots: Townsville Town Common, 271 listed, 242 in past 3yrs; Werribee Treatment Ponds 263, 227; Cairns Foreshore 259, 194.

Big differences between totals and three years. But even three years is a long time. And many sites show very strong seasonality among species. So last  three months may be closer to reality. For Tyto that would mean about 160 species. The common and Werribee fall behind, to about 135 each, and Cairns drops to 100. Tyto loses fewer birds because it has water year-round (unlike Townsville) and is not so coastal and seasonal as Cairns and Werribee.

I expect for a full mornng to list between 70 and 80 species in Tyto. Add about 30 over a week and another 30 over a month. So, if lucky, 130-140 of the target 160. Which is a long way off the 246 on the printed Tyto list, but it's a realistic figure.

Go to it, visitors. But set sensible targets wherever you bird.

All pictures from recent Tyto outings: Pelican, Shining Bronze Cuckoo, Pied Imperial Pigeon, Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Yellow Oriole, Little Friarbird

Terza rima for my Beatrice, Anna V

Yellow Oriole takes to the blue beyond ...


... and Anna V,  my Beatrice, Italy and  Port Douglas,
has gone too, probably to somewhere in South America


At Paluma Falls on a divine day
Along the way a comely vision came
Name of Anna V but Beatrice,

The dream darling of Dante, she became.
Guide in Aligheri's allegory,
Beauty and sweet reason shine in her name.

If only my weak art led to such glory
As matched the desire to praise
To the skies - with God as my jury

Without lust or lies - the warmest gaze,
Open mind and eyes, the touching play
Of trusting hand and gentle winning ways.

Her name is Anna V but Beatrice
Is she to me, her wannabe Dante.

Terza rima Tony

Orioles offer rousing sounds

Tyto's close to southern edge of range for Yellow Oriole (Oriolus flavocinctus) and its rousing, ringing 'cholonk, cholonk' and raspy sneer.

Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) extends over huge eastern and northern range and offers gentler 'olly, olly o', musical muttering and softer sneer.


Both species busy in the wetlands these days, though often heard rather than seen clearly. 
Click pix to enlarge

Oriole balances hairy diet

A balanced diet is the way to good health, we're told (though many choose to ignore such maxims and indulge in maximums). No need to sell the message to the Yellow Oriole (Oriolus flavocinctus).

Watched today as the bird below snagged a large hairy caterpillar, gave it the typical cuckoo-like thrash and bash treatment for at least two minutes and gulped the bruised mass down.

It then moved on to fruit, more customary fare. The bird tried several ripening guavas before finding one already part-eaten and to its liking. 

Most birds avoid hairy caterpillars, leaving them to the cuckoos. Orioles are fruit eaters and though they seem to relish some insects I've not previously seen one tackle any hairy 'monsters'. Perhaps the cuckoos get there first most of the time.

Will get a chance to study Yellow Oriole eating habits more closely in coming weeks after seeing one in the early stages of nest building near the lookout today. Should mean plenty of resounding 'yonk yonk a-lonks' and breezy wheezy 'sneezes' to come.

And news of the Crimson Finch nest in the trunk of a paperbark in front of the hide. Two outsiders turned up today. One ventured near the nest. Out rushed a female furious at having her sitting interrupted. The interlopers fled. It's been about two weeks since final feather-bedding (above) activity, so fledging is probably a week off. I'll be on watch!

Yellow hello not so mellow

Bright and breezy start to 2009 and life outside the nest for this new-fledged Yellow Honeyeater (Lichenostomus flavus) on bush in front of Tyto hide. Parent bird not keen on having people around and letting everyone know it.

The Yellows thus join pairs of Brown-backed Honeyeaters, Willie Wagtails and Crimson Finches in successfully producing young from nests in the three paperbarks that ring the hide. White-breasted Woodswallows used the main vertical fork (as usual) in another paperbark just 10 metres away across a narrow and shallow channel.

But Red-browed Finches (formerly Firetails) (Neochmia temporalis) have not returned to the heights of the trees, which they have used in the past. The pictured bird is building the typical bulky oval nest within twiggy growth on an exposed branch close to a nearby track and a mere two metres above the mown grass.

The site is an odd choice for a bird that normally shows remarkable caution when approaching the nest. The nest tree is seldom reached directly. Most often, the birds carry nest material (and - after hatching - food) into an adjoining tree before sneaking across to their true destination. Makes it easier for me to watch, if all goes well.

Also easier to watch than is commonly the case, this Yellow Oriole (Oriolus flavocinctus) hunting close to the water's edge at the first lagoon. Yellow Orioles will occasionally forage for prey close to the ground in open habitat if it offers low growth with bushy stems stiff enough to carry their weight. Olive-backed Orioles stick more to the trees.