Sector 5; Diversity of habitat, uniformity of birds

Well, the Christmas break is over and a lot has happened over that time; surveys, moving house, back at work etc etc. More on the non-survey stuff on another occasion. The last survey before Christmas was in Sector 5. It was a particularly mild morning, with a strange sight of two hot air balloons high in the sky to the west! The habitat in much of the survey was really diverse, with a dense leaf litter no doubt supporting a diverse epigeic (leaf litter) fauna. Even though there was such a diverse habitat, the species richness and abundance was rather disappointing. There are a number of potential reasons for this: there were a large number of large aggressive species such as Kookaburras, Friarbirds, Currawongs, Lorikeets and Crows. A second reason, one linked to the above reason, is the ‘architecture’ of the sector that the survey was undertaken in. The habitat surveyed was effectively bounded on 3 sides by ‘matrix’ habitat, that is, habitat such as roads, suburban development or commercial landuses. This degree of development surrounding the survey area effectively increases the proportion of ‘edge’ habitat (see Sector 4 post for explanation). This usually results in an increase in edge-tolerant species and a decrease in edge-avoiding species. Seeing Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and White-throated Honeyeaters was awesome though (especially two small flocks of White-throated). They are keeping me sane until numbers build up again for next winter!!
Got a good look at Scribbly Gum, so I have attached a photo I took of one in the field. These trees get the name because of the scribbly lines on their bark, which are caused by the larvae of the Scribbly Gum moth. The larvae burrow into the new bark below the surface, with the scribbles (grub trails) only revealing themselves as the old bark falls away. The diameters of the tunnels increase as the larvae grow, and the ends of the tracks are where the larvae stopped to pupate! Will shortly post the final sector 6 survey!!

Date: 23rd December 2008
Time: 0540 - 0745
Sector: 5
Number of species seen: 18
Number of birds seen: 82

Australian Brush-Turkey (1)
Australian Magpie (2)
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (2)
Cicadabird (1)
Laughing Kookaburra (2)
Noisy Friarbird (6)
Olive-backed Oriole (2)
Pied Currawong (4)
Rainbow Lorikeet (18)
Sacred Kingfisher (4)
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet (5)
Silvereye (3)
Spotted Turtle-dove (1)
Striated Pardalote (8)
Torresian Crow (4)
Variegated Fairy-wren (7)
White-throated Honeyeater (10)
Yellow-faced Honeyeater (2)