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whistler,-golden

I am re-posting this photo of a Golden Whistler to illustrate the dense sticky thicket this bird was hiding in, on Callum Brae, May 2013.

This site is a narrow strip of dense bushes and sticks between a boundary fence and a track. It is home to the following species of small birds:

Fairy wrens

Red-browed finch

White eared honeyeater

Speckled warbler......(threatened species, I think)

Eastern spinebill

Yellow-faced honeyeater

Fuscous honeyeater

Leaden Flycatcher

Buff-rumped thornbill

Yellow-rumped thornbill

Striated thornbill

Weebill

White browed scrubwren

White-throated treecreeper

Silvereye

Grey fantail

Scarlet robin

Rufous whistler

Golden whistler

Sacred kingfisher.

Althought the Kingfisher just passes through from time to time, without living in the bushes.

On Callum Brae there would not be another single area of that size that could boast such a variety or density of small birds.

Yesterday morning two men with a large mechanical borer came in and drilled a series of holes along the fence line which they said were “test” holes for ACTEW.

Assuming either an electricity line or water pipe is to be taken along that fence line, it can only be done with the destruction of all of the abovementioned habitat, and dispersal of the small birds. Birds driven out of habitat that is especially suitable for breeding and cover will not necessarily find alternative accommodation, so to speak, and may cease to breed and inhabit the general area.

An impending further decline of bird numbers in the ACT.

 

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Uploaded on January 16, 2015
Taken on May 19, 2013