Northern Rivers Newsletter December 2014

CONVENOR’S CORNER

I want to thank Northern Rivers Members of BirdLife for a great year. I enjoyed meeting new members and visiting with others on our outings. Many of you have worked hard this past year. Thank you to all who participated in local birding days, surveys, educational events, campout planning, attended meetings, wrote letters and commented on issues important to birds. Hopefully everyone found time to share their enjoyment of birds with fellow members, friends, and family. Perhaps you planted a native tree or shrub for your back yard birds? It all helps in our enjoyment and protection of birds and their habitats.

This year many of us attended the N NSW Spring Campout and met our fellow birders in the Iluka Area. A special thanks to the local guides who made this weekend very special. It was encouraging to see locals working for local birds.

Looking for something to do in 2015? Perhaps join the committee to organize the Northern NSW Spring 2015 Campout. Share your favourite birding site with us on a Sunday outing. Volunteer to be a Committee Chair on the N NSW Branch of Birdlife. Start your own survey or atlassing area. Volunteer for a Landcare or Shorebird survey

Everyone is encouraged to join us on an outing, get to know us and be involved.

Cheers

Linda Brannian Convenor of Birdlife Northern Rivers – Local Branch Executive Committee Member of Northern NSW Branch tweedbirds@bigpond.com

APRIL 2015 COONABARABRAN-WARRUMBUNGLE-PILLIGA CAMPOUT

Preparations are well in hand for our April campout in the Coonabarabran-Warrumbungle-Pilliga area. We are planning to base the campout in Coonabarabran from 17-20 April with birding trips to the Warrumbungle and Pilliga areas. Sometimes called the place where east meets west, this area has a diversity of birdlife with numbers of rare and endangered species. Those people interested in participating in surveys of the regeneration of bush fire affected areas in the Warrumbungle National Park may have the opportunity to do so immediately following the campout. Registration materials will be available on the website by mid-January with more information on camping and accommodation in Coonabarabran. Another e-news will be sent to confirm availability of registration forms. Hope to see you there!

Registration forms will be available from the link below

http://www.birdlife.org.au/locations/birdlife-northern-nsw/activities-nn

ILUKA SPRING CAMPOUT 2014

The BirdLife Northern NSW Spring Campout was held at Iluka on the northern shore of the Clarence River in northern NSW. This area proved to be a good choice of location with plenty of reasonably close local areas from which to choose for outings. In fact, we were spoilt for choice in the end. Added to these was the option of a tour up the river on a local ferry which seemed to be a popular choice. The weather was kind. Excursions included visits to the local Iluka rainforest and beaches, the Clarence River, Yamba, Lawrence and Ashby, as well as a little further afield to Sandon, Yuraygir National park and Brooms Head.

Firstly, some statistics: the final count was 73 attendees, including 8 group leaders and 2 organisers. Attendees included 60 BirdLife members and 13 non-members. The final Bird Count was 176 species.

This was the first time we had organised a campout and our grateful thanks are due to a number of people.

Contents Convenor's Corner

Autumn 2015 Campout

Spring 2014 Campout Report

Australasian BirdFair

Survey Reports

Travel Tales

Monthly outings

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Richard Jordan generously shared his experiences of organising previous campouts with me while Anne met and talked to Ashley Carlson, the organiser of the Dubbo campout and the committee at the AGM at Dubbo. It is of course always easier to build on the good foundation laid by previous organisers and hopefully future campouts will be able to improve on this one.

Without local birding knowledge and great excursion leaders we should have faced an uphill task. Again, we acknowledge the significant input of Greg Clancy and 5 members of the Clarence Valley Birdos, Gary & Barbara Whale, Geoff & Natalie Ryan and Tony Belton, our ‘man on the ground’! Also roped in were our Convenor, Peter Higgins, Richard Jordan and Russell Jaego, another local expert. Everyone benefitted from their enthusiasm and knowledge.

Beach Stone-Curlew at Iluka (H. Manning)

Our campout dinner was enjoyed by the majority of the participants and was held at the Iluka Golf Club. The chef arranged for us to have an area to ourselves so that we were also able to run the raffle and have our after dinner presentation easily. A profit or $122 was made on the raffle - I was embarrassed to be the lucky winner! Our thanks go to Sue Perry for organising the raffle. Thanks also to Laurie, for acting as our MC for the evening.

This time we had a free entry to the ‘Guess the Total Bird Count’ competition. Right on the money, with a guess of 176 species in total, was Kathy Wilk. Well done! Kathy has also undertaken to submit the records for each individual area, to Birdata, so thanks again Kathy. I now have the complete list ready to put up on our website.

The profits from the campout will be used for furthering the branch’s commitment to bird research and community education. Shortly you will be hearing more about ways in which you can contribute ideas.

You may be interested to know that Tony Belton wrote an article for his local newspaper as well as an interview for his local ABC station.

Red-capped Plover, Cakora Lake (Anne Jones)

He says the local community was very aware of the ‘birdos’ wandering about and he is taking the opportunity to highlight the importance of the local Landcare group and the tourist potential of the natural assets of the Iluka area. Tony is now handing out copies of Shorebirds books and BirdLife membership forms!

Perhaps we should think of ways like this, in future, to feed back to the locals in the areas we use as centres for our campouts, as positive reinforcement of our regard for birds and the environment.

The feedback we have had has been very positive, thanks, but there is always room for improvement. Any suggestions and constructive criticism can be added to our corporate knowledge and passed on to the Autumn campout organiser, Mandy Wright, from whom you will be hearing in the not too distant future.

Anne & I would both like to thank our husbands for their willing support and contributions, not only as an integral part of our exploratory visits to Iluka and the surrounding areas, but also for keeping up with the chores whilst we were otherwise engaged!

- Jenny MacKay & Anne Jones

Tawny Frogmouth nesting, Sandon River (H. Manning)

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2014 AUSTRALASIAN BIRD FAIR

The Bird Fair was held at the Newington Armory, Sydney Olympic Park on the weekend of October 25-26. This was the first time the event had been held in the southern hemisphere, emulating the hugely successful British Birdfair which has been running for over 20 years.

The Australasian Bird Fair set out to provide something for everyone, with educational activities for the youngsters, displays of optical equipment and presentations from a number of bird experts. The talks were interesting and well attended. There were also a number of groups providing information on threatened bird species and habitats, with a focus on the Pacific region.

The venue is huge which possibly accounted for the feeling that not that many people attended. Having attended the British Birdfair, we had probably been expecting a bit much and felt the displays from both local and overseas birding groups, suppliers and other areas were a bit thin on the ground. I was particularly disappointed that there were so few exhibitors in the Art, Craft and Photography section. In fact, photos submitted to the photographic competition were only displayed as a slideshow and on the Sunday only.

This may all sound a bit negative, but it has to be remembered that there is a huge effort planning such an event and this was starting from scratch, with a high bar to aim for.

The organisers are to be congratulated for getting this off the ground and for achieving a great foundation for future years- they are already planning the 2015 event!

Overall, it is something to watch out for next year. The more people visit and support it, the more the organisers will be able to attract sponsorship, exhibitors and speakers to the event. Well worth everyone marking it in their calendars!

- Jenny MacKay

SRI LANKA TRAVELS (AND EATING!)

Together with past TBO President Matthew Angus, I had 3 weeks enjoying a wildlife, history and culture trip to Sri Lanka earlier this year. For me the highlights were the wonderful birds we saw and the delicious curries for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The small group trip was an exploration of the many National Parks in the southern and central part of the country. These National Parks cover a wide variety of habitats: rainforest, coast, monsoon forests, grasslands and wetlands We saw over 180 species of birds, including 25 endemics, as well as leopards,

elephants, crocodiles, whales, monkeys, sloth bear and deer. The endemic highlights were the Blue Magpie, Red-faced Malkoah, Serendib Scops Owl, Grey Hornbill, Crimson-backed Woodpecker, Rufous Babbler, Dusky-blue Flycatcher.

Sri Lankan Blue Magpie (H. Manning)

Surprises during the trip were the number of ruined 'ancient capitals' to be explored by archaeology enthusiasts and the need for driving, rather than walking, through the National Parks: unlike our National Parks, Sri Lankan Parks contain plenty of animals which can kill you!

- Helen Manning

Helen & Matthew celebrating a sighting of the Shaheen falcon (subspecies of the Peregrine Falcon) (Helen Manning)

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RUFOUS SCRUB-BIRDS 2014

Thank you to all 18 people who helped with the Rufous Scrub-bird surveys in the Border Ranges this year. The weather was perfect and the RSBs behaved well with everyone at least getting to hear them calling and a few lucky people actually getting good sightings.

After 5 years, 11 trips to the Border Ranges, and over 30 individual wanders along our transects looking for Rufous Scrub-birds, I have still not had a good look at one! Ho hum…

Our hard work paid off brilliantly this year. For the first time, we relocated every RSB territory that we have ever found since we started in 2010. Having plugged into Google Earth all 94 co-ordinates of where we recorded definite or possible RSBs and pondered their distribution, I’ve come up with a figure of 17 Rufous Scrub-bird territories: 10 along Brindle Creek Walk, 2 along Booyong Walk, and 4 along Sheepstation Creek Road.

We also recorded 60 species of birds altogether this year, which is 11 less than the total number of 71 species that we have recorded across all 5 survey years. 38 species were recorded in every year, including all 7 of the birds that were part of the nomination of the Scenic Rim Important Bird Area* – which just goes to show that the Border Ranges really is a special place for those birds.

(*Rufous Scrub-bird, Albert’s Lyrebird, Green Catbird, Australian Logrunner, Paradise Riflebird, Regent Bowerbird, Pale-yellow Robin.)

- Faye Hill

Rufous Scrub-bird, Border Ranges National Park (Roger Jones)

OSPREY SURVEY 2014

This year has resulted in one of the lowest number of fledged ospreys for the twenty years the survey has been running. Only 9 chicks fledged from the 28 nests observed.

A considerable number of osprey pairs at these nests marked the beginning of the breeding season by nest reconstruction and housekeeping, but then seemed to lose interest, resulting in only 7 nests which were seen to contain chicks. This is understandable for the pair at the mouth of Cudgen Creek, which last year had three chicks, including one 'runt' which needed rescuing and hospital treatment, and which sensibly decided to limit the family to only one chick this year.

Many questions are raised about the annual fluctuations in the number of chicks produced and fledged: is it a factor of weather, food supply, parental experience?? As we now have twenty years' nesting records for the Tweed area, there is a project awaiting someone who would like to investigate!

- Helen Manning

Osprey at Angourie Point (Anne Jones)

NEW BOOK - 'BIRDS OF SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND'

Birdlife Southern Queensland is very pleased to announce the arrival of its latest publication, “Birds of South East Queensland”. This larger publication has been designed as a fit for: the tourist, visitor, middle primary school and older children, people wanting to know their local birds better, local birding groups' new members, twitching competition workbook etc.

It contains 336 photographs of all the endemics recorded from 2008 until 31st August 2014, plus a full list of all species including vagrants, pelagics and introduced, with tick boxes for each, and three pages of good places to see birds. Photographs were chosen for clarity and good ID potential.

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Forty seven photographers contributed their shots. Of course all the species are also found in the Northern Rivers region.

Printed on quality paper with clear acetate covers for robust field use, it’s a bargain at $10.00 plus appropriate postage and handling. Thirty percent of the price will go towards the Birdlife Australia national IBA (Important Bird Areas) coordinator initiative.

The book is now available and will be advertised on the Birdlife Southern Queensland web site.

MONTHLY OUTINGS 2015

February 8: 'Madhuban',

904 Pocket Road, Billinudgel. Go through Billinudgel to the T-intersection at the end of the main street, turn right into Brunswick St. After the bridge over a small creek bear left into The Pocket Road. 'Madhuban' is 9km from Billinudgel on the right. Park on the flat area inside the gate marked '904'. There are 3 options for birding: a constructed walking track following a creek gully or a 4WD track following the ridgeline, both of which have steep sections; or a walk around the flatter cleared area near the parking/morning tea spot.

Start time 7.30am DST

March 8: Mudgeeraba Hinterland Regional Park

From the Pacific Motorway approaching from the south, take Exit 80 signposted “The Link Way / Mudgeeraba”, and bear left on the Gold Coast Springbrook Road, following signs towards Springbrook. Continue through the first traffic lights and turn left at the second ones onto Hardys Rd. After 2 km the park is signposted on your left. As soon as you enter the park, turn left again and continue around the driveway to the parking area with shade trees, toilets and picnic shelters.

Start time 7.30am DST

April 12:

April 12: Jinangong Nature Reserve, Tunnel Road, Billinudgel.

Take the Brunswick Valley Way to the Ocean Shores roundabout at Orana Rd. Turn west and go under the Motorway but then immediately take Tunnel Rd to your right. Drive 400 metres then take gravel road to left (looks like a driveway) and park on the verge near the top of the hill outside No. 51 Tunnel Rd. The walk continues along this gravel road, and then enters the Nature Reserve, for which a bird survey has been requested.

Start time 7.30am AEST

Cancellation of outings due to forecast bad weather will be advised by email by 7.30pm the evening previous to the outing. If in doubt, please call Helen Manning on 0428 151 865 or Linda Brannian on 0409 833 888

Challenge Count, December 2014 The Northern Rivers (combined) Team saw 195 species, a total of 9387 birds were counted & breeding activity (nesting or dependent young) were noted for 27 species. A great effort by everyone.

MAGPIE

A snap and a clack. A surprise of air through hair.

Magpie nesting time.

I calm his concern. Soft speech with understanding.

He listens quietly.

- Robbie Wesley