Saturday 30 August 2014

More photos from the July Susan Island banding

The following are some additional photos taken on Susan Island during the July banding trip.




Red-browed Finch adult female on left adult male on right
Mostly black tail of adult male Golden Whistler
Adult male White-browed Scrubwren
Adult female Superb Fairy-wren

Golden Whistler in its second year or older
Adult female Grey Shrike-thrush
Adult Brown Thornbill
Adult Grey Fantail
Darkling Beetle
Yellow feathers on underparts of adult female Golden Whistler

 
Adult Little Shrike-thrush

Immature White-necked Heron in flight


 

Tuesday 26 August 2014

Bird banding on Susan Island 21-22 June and 26-28 July 2014

Susan Island is an island in the Clarence River at Grafton, north coast NSW, and contains the largest remnant of lowland subtropical (dry) rainforest on the Clarence floodplain.  It has great ecological and cultural significance being an aboriginal women's place.

Wendy completing data cards


Bird Banding was carried out at the eastern end of Susan Island on 21-22 June and at the western end on 26-28 July 2014.  In June I was the only bander with Andrew Tarrant, Bill O'Donnell and Jess Smidt assisting.  In July Bill Greenlees, Wendy and Alan Pilkington and I banded while Andrew Tarrant assisted on the Saturday. 
 
Mist net set in powerline easement

'whistler' net near camp


One hundred and fifty-seven birds were mist netted over the five days, 14 on 21 June, 23 on 22 June, 41 on 26 July, 53 on 27 July and 26 on July 28. One hundred and twenty-five were new birds and thirty-two were retraps.    

The results are shown in the table below.

 

SPECIES
21/06
22/06
26/07
27/07
28/7
TOTAL
 
Band Ret
Band  Ret
Band  Ret
Band Ret
Band Ret
B       R
Laughing Kookaburra
 
  0      0
 
  1    0
 
   0      0
 
0     0
 
  0
 
 1      0
Grey Fantail
    
  0      0
     
  0    0
  
   0      0
 
1     0
 
 1    0
 
 2      0
Eastern Yellow Robin
    
 
  0      0
     
 
  0    0
   
 
   7      3        
 
 
1     2
 
 
 0    1
   
 
 8      6
Golden Whistler
 
  0      0
     
  1    0
                    
   7     2                               
 
 8    6
 
3     3
 
19   11
Grey Shrike-thrush
 
 
  0      0
 
 
  0    0
 
 
   3      0    
 
 
 0    0
 
 
 0    0
 
 
  3     0
Little Shrike-thrush
 
 
  0     0
 
 
  0    0
 
 
   0      0    
 
 
 0    0
 
 
 1    0
 
 
  1     0
Brown Thornbill
 
 0    0          
 
  0   0     
 
   1      0
 
 0    0
 
 1    0
 
  2     0
White-browed Scrubwren
 
 
  0     0
 
 
   0      0
 
 
   0      0
 
 
0     0
 
 
1     0
 
 
  1     0
Large-billed Scrubwren
 
  0    0        
 
  
  0      0
 
  
   1      1     
 
  
0     0
 
  
0     0
 
 
  1     1
Tawny Grassbird
 
  0     0
 
   3      0
 
   0      0
 
0     0
 
0    0 
 
  3     0
Superb
Fairy-wren
 
  7     0
 
  1       0           
                     
   0      0
 
1     0
 
1     1
 
 10    1
Silvereye
  0     0
   0      0
   4      0
13   1
2     0
 19    1
Lewin’s Honeyeater
 
  0     0
 
   2      0
               
   9      3
 
 7    5
 
3     4
 
 21  12
Red-browed Finch
 
 
  7     0
 
 
15       0
 
 
   0      0
 
 
7     0
 
 
4     0
 
 
 33    0
Striated Pardalote
 
  0     0
 
  0       0
 
   0      0
 
1     0
 
0     0
 
   1    0
TOTALS
14     0  
23       0
 32      9  
39 14
17   9
125 32       

 

Striated (Black-headed) Pardalote


The Striated Pardalote was the first one ever banded on the Island.  A high percentage (20.9%) of all birds caught were retraps.  The 33 retraps comprised 6 retraps of 5 different Eastern Yellow Robins, 12 retraps of 10 Golden Whistlers, 1 Large-billed Scrubwren, 1 Superb Fairy-wren, 1 Silvereye, and 12 retraps of 10 different Lewin’s Honeyeaters.

 
The dates of original banding of these retraps were as follows: 

 Eastern Yellow Robin: 26/05/11, 29/05/11, 28/07/12, 30/07/12, 26/07/14.

Golden Whistler: 27/10/08, 28/05/11, 29/07/12, 26/07/14, 27/07/14.

Large-billed Scrubwren: 26/06/10

Superb Fairy-wren: 27/07/14

Silvereye: 26/06/10

Lewin’s Honeyeater: 30/08/09, 28/06/10, 28/05/11, 26/07/14, 27/07/14. 

 
Adult male Eastern Yellow Robin

While a small number of these retraps were from a day or two earlier most were at least two years from banding and some as long as 6+ years since banding. 

 
Adult male Golden Whistler


 
Adult male Golden Whistler with Victorian tail colour

Twelve of the Golden Whistlers caught had tail wing ratios indicating that they were Tasmanian birds, 2 were locals and 8 were in the overlap zone of measurements meaning that they could be Tasmanian or local birds or from areas in between.  One adult male with a Victorian type upper tail colouration was in the overlap zone and one with similar tail colouration was within the range of Tasmanian birds.  A female plumaged bird with a Tasmanian ratio had whitish undertail coverts and vent which is a Tasmanian character however another with a similar ratio had yellow undertail coverts and vent (a mainland character).  The two Grey Fantails were Tasmanian birds based on tail-wing ratios. Six of the Silvereyes were ‘A’ type (race cornwalli) from the area between Sydney and central Queensland), 3 were A-B type (from central NSW), one was B type (southern NSW-Victoria, race westernensis) and one was a B-D type (Victoria-Tasmania) (between race westernensis and lateralis.

 
Female plumaged Golden Whistler with white undertail coverts

The banding and observations of the White-browed Scrubwren, Large-billed Scrubwren, Little Shrike-thrush, Eastern Yellow Robin and Tawny Grassbird are all significant.  Prior to 1997 cattle were grazed on the Island.  Up till then there had been only a few observational records of the Eastern Yellow Robin and Tawny Grassbird.  Since the cattle were removed both species have been recorded on almost every visit to the Island and 40 Yellow Robins have been banded since 2008, with a number of retraps being made, and 21 Grassbirds have been banded since 1998.  The first White-browed Scrubwren was mist-netted on the Island by Dominique Potvin in 2009.  She didn’t band it as she was only licenced to band Silvereyes.  The first one banded on the Island was in September 2011 so the one banded in July this year is only the second banded on the Island.  The first banding of a Large-billed Scrubwren on the Island was in August 2009 and there have now been 5 banded with a couple of retraps. This is a testimony to the value of removing stock from the Island and the great work that the Susan & Elizabeth Islands Trust and the National Parks & Wildlife Service have done in association with contractors such as Envite and volunteers.  Even the proliferation of weeds has helped the recovery of the bird populations.  Stands of weeds such as Wild Tobacco, Castor Oil Plant, and a variety of annuals, which don’t threaten the native plants, provide cover for a variety of birds.  The biggest threats to the native plants are the introduced vine weeds which mostly hail from South America.  There is ongoing work to control them.

 
A-B Silvereye showing rich buff flanks

A great variety of birds, a few mammals and two reptiles were observed or heard.  Two Spangled Drongos chased a Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, which was carrying food in its bill, out over the waters of the Clarence River.  One bird flew back but the other actively pursued the Cuckoo-shrike.  I have previously observed and written about this kleptoparasitism in the Spangled Drongo.  An adult Peregrine Falcon was perched in a large Forest Red Gum on both days in June.  During the July banding one was observed to alight on a tall power pole at Grafton, just north of the Island.  A grey morph Grey Goshawk was seen on both trips.  When transporting gear back to Grafton on July 28 we saw a Square-tailed Kite soaring low over the trees and buildings near the main street.

 
Immature White-necked Heron

 

The full species list for the two visits is presented below:

 

Mammals

 
Grey-headed Flying-fox

Grey-headed Flying-fox
Black Flying-fox
Fox (June only – two were baited before July trip)
                                                                                                                        
Reptiles

Garden Sun-skink
Red-bellied Black Snake
                                                       
Birds

Australian Wood Duck                                           
Pacific Black Duck                                                 
Australasian Grebe                                               
White-headed Pigeon                                            
*Spotted Dove                                                         
Bar-shouldered Dove
Australasian Darter
Little Pied Cormorant
Great Cormorant
Little Black Cormorant                                            
Pied Cormorant
Australian Pelican                                                  
White-necked Heron
Eastern Great Egret                                    
White-faced Heron                                                 
Australian White Ibis                                              
Straw-necked Ibis                                                   
Royal Spoonbill
Eastern Osprey                                                       
White-bellied Sea-Eagle                                       
Whistling Kite                                                          
Brahminy Kite
Brown Goshawk                                                     
Grey Goshawk                                                         
Peregrine Falcon                            
Dusky Moorhen                                                      
Black-shouldered Lapwing                                                           
Australian Gull-billed Tern                                                            
Silver Gull                                                                
Galah                                                                        
Little Corella                                                             
Rainbow Lorikeet                                                    
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet                                         
Shining Bronze-Cuckoo
Laughing Kookaburra
Rainbow Bee-eater
Noisy Pitta
Superb Fairy-wren
Red-backed Fairy-wren
White-browed Scrubwren
Large-billed Scrubwren
Brown Gerygone
Brown Thornbill
Spotted Pardalote                                                                           
Striated Pardalote
Eastern Spinebill
Lewin’s Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Brown Honeyeater
Noisy Friarbird
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Varied Triller
Golden Whistler
Rufous Whistler
Little Shrike-thrush
Grey Shrike-thrush
Australasian Figbird
Pied Butcherbird
Australian Magpie
Pied Currawong
Spangled Drongo
Grey Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Torresian Crow
Rose Robin
Eastern Yellow Robin
Tawny Grassbird
Silvereye
Mistletoebird
Tree Martin
Red-browed Finch



Adult Brahminy Kite perched in Forest Red Gum near camp