Sector 1; Needletails and Drongos

Surveyed the western-most portion of Toohey Forest this morning. After a rather cool start, it ended up rather warm by about 7.30am! In general, it was a rather uneventful morning; only a couple of small insectivores or forest-interior species. It was however interesting in that I added some more species to the my Toohey list. The first, was a flyover of a Channel-billed Cuckoo, which was calling out loud across the canopy as it flew through. The second was the presence of two White-throated Needletail. These species breed in northern Asia and migrate to inhabit Australia between October and about May. You rarely get a good glimpse of them, and usually see them soaring high above the treetops where they feed on flying insects. Often, you see hundreds and hundreds of them immediately prior to storms as they feed on large insect eruptions that occur at this time. For this reason, they are also sometimes referred to as Stormbirds! The third species of interest was the presence of a species that I believe harbours the best name of any bird in Australia: The Spangled Drongo! I saw three of them chasing a Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike! They are a very easy species to identify. Firstly, even in silhouette, you can see the characteristic forked ‘fish’ tail. They also have iridescent black plumage, with a stark red eye! One final ‘first’ for me this morning was being swooped by a Grey Butcherbird! I have rarely been swooped in my life, little alone by a Butcherbird, so I was pleasantly surprised!!

Date: 24th November 2008
Time: 0530 - 0810
Sector: 1
Number of species seen: 23
Number of birds seen: 150

Australian Magpie (3)
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (6)
Channel-billed Cuckoo (1)
Cicadabird (1)
Common Mynah (1)
Crested Pigeon (2)
Dollarbird (1)
Grey Butcherbird (2)
Magpie-lark (4)
Noisy Friarbird (3)
Noisy Miner (43)
Olive-backed Oriole (1)
Pied Butcherbird (1)
Pied Currawong (1)
Rainbow Lorikeet (19)
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet (23)
Silvereye (6)
Spangled Drongo (4)
Spotted Turtle-dove (1)
Striated Pardalote (22)
Torresian Crow (2)
White-throated Needletail (2)
Yellow-faced Honeyeater (1)