I got really excited when I found out that birds of a whole genus, as well as some other species, had batrachotoxins in their feathers... have a read of this and see what you think:
Avian chemical defense: Toxic birds not of a feather
This certainly raises a lot of questions, but nonetheless is very interesting. There seems to be few articles or scientific journals about this on the internet, and I haven't had a chance to read many, but I am keen on developing some sort of bigger picture myself for my own interest. I will definitely post anything else that I find.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC34071/#__ffn_sectitle
Brandon
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
Sunday, 19 April 2015
March 2015 in Bundaberg
March was very productive around Bundaberg with plenty of interesting and noteworthy birds being recorded. In our first month of Autumn, the weather showed no sign of cooling down as we were experiencing quite hot days for almost the whole month. I did not get out and about much this month so I have no reports of my own apart from the Square-tailed Kites which were still hanging around Walker St and the TAFE campus... one was even spotted over my house, which is a fair way from TAFE and is a new bird for my house list.
The first scheduled outing was to Garnett's Lagoon with an optional campout at the nearby Wongi State Forest. I could not attend this one, however being south of Bundaberg, this is generally a popular outing for the Hervey Bay birders as well. There wasn't much of a report for this outing, so I don't know exactly what was seen this weekend but I do know Wood Sandpipers were seen and that birds like Latham's Snipe, Glossy Ibis and Black-tailed Godwits are regular there in Summer. Wongi has some excellent birding and is usually good for Black-chinned Honeyeater, Varied Sittella, Fuscous Honeyeater among others, as well as some freshwater causeways do have White-throated Nightjars hawking over on dusk.
The second outing of March was a day trip to Moore Park and surrounds, lead by me. My main objective of the morning was to look for some button-quails that I had seen off Gengers Rd before. We never located any button-quails that morning probably because birding with a group is partially a contributing factor there. The habitat off Gengers Rd is quite moist with some parts of monsoon forest being generally good for some rainforest birds. It was a drizzly morning so bird activity started slow but picked up in between showers, and produced some cracking birds indeed, such as Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Shining Flycatcher, Azure Kingfisher, Dusky Myzomela, Black-faced and Spectacled Monarch. I was also surprised to hear an Australian Owlet-nightjar call from within the mangroves, which I have never encountered before. Other birds seen on this outing include Nankeen Night-Heron, Swamp Harrier, Brown Falcon and Brown Goshawk... overall a great morning.
A couple of the locals decided to head to Cordalba State Forest one morning and reported some nice birds. Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters are apparently in good numbers and Black-chinned Honeyeaters are present. Cuckoos recorded include Brush, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, and Little and Shining Bronze-Cuckoos. Red-tailed, Yellow-tailed and Glossy Block Cockatoos were also seen that morning which is a pleasing sighting.
Some of the other birders have been scouting the area recently, including Chris Barnes who has been visiting the Port almost weekly. A Pectoral Sandpiper was found again, the Asian Dowitchers have still been around (presumably moving between Burnett Heads and our survey site with the tides) and plenty of Fork-tailed Swifts in the sky from the few storm fronts we've had. Two Brolgas have also turned up briefly, it appears and a Peregrine Falcon likes to perch on top of the huge sugar sheds. Chris says the resident Grey Goshawks have been making regular appearances over the Botanic Gardens recently and the Peregrines that have bred in the CBD in previous years are back and can be usually seen of an afternoon flying and calling anywhere from the main street. So, that's basically March in a nutshell... looking forward to posting next month's snippets.
Brandon
The first scheduled outing was to Garnett's Lagoon with an optional campout at the nearby Wongi State Forest. I could not attend this one, however being south of Bundaberg, this is generally a popular outing for the Hervey Bay birders as well. There wasn't much of a report for this outing, so I don't know exactly what was seen this weekend but I do know Wood Sandpipers were seen and that birds like Latham's Snipe, Glossy Ibis and Black-tailed Godwits are regular there in Summer. Wongi has some excellent birding and is usually good for Black-chinned Honeyeater, Varied Sittella, Fuscous Honeyeater among others, as well as some freshwater causeways do have White-throated Nightjars hawking over on dusk.
The second outing of March was a day trip to Moore Park and surrounds, lead by me. My main objective of the morning was to look for some button-quails that I had seen off Gengers Rd before. We never located any button-quails that morning probably because birding with a group is partially a contributing factor there. The habitat off Gengers Rd is quite moist with some parts of monsoon forest being generally good for some rainforest birds. It was a drizzly morning so bird activity started slow but picked up in between showers, and produced some cracking birds indeed, such as Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Shining Flycatcher, Azure Kingfisher, Dusky Myzomela, Black-faced and Spectacled Monarch. I was also surprised to hear an Australian Owlet-nightjar call from within the mangroves, which I have never encountered before. Other birds seen on this outing include Nankeen Night-Heron, Swamp Harrier, Brown Falcon and Brown Goshawk... overall a great morning.
A couple of the locals decided to head to Cordalba State Forest one morning and reported some nice birds. Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters are apparently in good numbers and Black-chinned Honeyeaters are present. Cuckoos recorded include Brush, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, and Little and Shining Bronze-Cuckoos. Red-tailed, Yellow-tailed and Glossy Block Cockatoos were also seen that morning which is a pleasing sighting.
Some of the other birders have been scouting the area recently, including Chris Barnes who has been visiting the Port almost weekly. A Pectoral Sandpiper was found again, the Asian Dowitchers have still been around (presumably moving between Burnett Heads and our survey site with the tides) and plenty of Fork-tailed Swifts in the sky from the few storm fronts we've had. Two Brolgas have also turned up briefly, it appears and a Peregrine Falcon likes to perch on top of the huge sugar sheds. Chris says the resident Grey Goshawks have been making regular appearances over the Botanic Gardens recently and the Peregrines that have bred in the CBD in previous years are back and can be usually seen of an afternoon flying and calling anywhere from the main street. So, that's basically March in a nutshell... looking forward to posting next month's snippets.
Brandon
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