The Birdwatcher’s Monitoring Kit is ready
Posted on 6 November, 2014 by Tanya Loos
Ever wondered whether that honeyeater is likely to be a White-plumed Honeyeater or a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater? Local checklists can go a long way in helping to reduce the need to flip through 20 pages of honeyeaters in your favourite field guide! Connecting Country has developed a Bird checklist for the Mount Alexander region. A quick check of this list will rule out birds such as Yellow-plumed Honeyeater… This list was created with assistance from references created by the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club and from discussions with local specialists. Hopefully new species will be added to the list over time.
The Bird Checklist is just one of the tools now available as part of the ‘Birdwatcher’s Monitoring Kit’, now available on the Monitoring page of the Connecting Country website.
The Birdwatchers Monitoring Kit aims to help everyone, from beginners to experienced, get involved in birdwatching for both fun and conservation. The kit has the checklist, a hard copy data sheet, an Excel spreadsheet datasheet, a sightings sheet for the feathered five and most importantly a five page fact sheet on the hows and whys of bird monitoring to get you started.
The Brown Treecreeper pictured here was photographed by Greg License on a recent Connecting Country Bird Monitoring outing to the Clydesdale region, on Sunday 26 October 2014. A great outing was had by all – with the highlights being Crested Shrike-tits, amorous Peaceful Doves and the Diamond Firetail foraging quietly on the ground for grasses at the end . Our group saw or heard thirty-eight species in three hours. Many thanks to all for attending, and we hope to have more outings like this in the future.
Brown treecreeper by Greg License
Local events aplenty for Bird Week
Posted on 10 October, 2014 by Tanya Loos
Bird enthusiasts, from beginners to experienced, are encouraged to get involved in National Bird Week 2014.
This year, BirdLife Australia is holding its first ever Aussie Backyard Bird Count, and there are events locally to attend if you are keen to count some birds! You can also go online to www.aussiebirdcount.org.au to find out more. The Backyard Bird Count involves a twenty minute count from any local patch you like, whether it be your backyard bushland or favourite park. You can count once, or many times. In the spirit of the week, Connecting Country staff will post their observations as the week progresses on our website .
You can enter your observations on the Aussie Bird Count website but if you are a smartphone user you can download the Aussie Backyard Bird Count app.
Kick off bird week with the Bird Man Sean Dooley, editor of BirdLife Magazine, and author of The Big Twitch. Baynton-Sidonia Landcare are hosting Sean’s walk and talk on Sunday 19th October, Interested people are welcome to register for both the Bird Walk and the talk at the Baynton Hall, or for either session, by contacting Barbara on 0458590642 or emailing archiemcleod1@gmail.com by 17th October.
Local ecologist Geoff Park is also giving a talk in Bendigo as part of National Bird Week. It’s on Saturday 18th October (11am- 12.30pm) in the Bendigo Library Reading Room. Click here for details.
The Macedon Ranges Shire also has a bird week event, with a bird forum on the afternoon of Saturday 18th October. See the attached flyer for details (click here).
And Bird Week finishes locally with a bird monitoring outing, led by Connecting Country’s Habitat for Bush Birds coordinator Tanya Loos. The outing will be on Sunday 26th October, the final day of bird week, and we will be visiting properties in the Clydesdale area, specifically looking for the feathered five. All welcome, from beginners to experienced but numbers are limited. To book a place, contact Tanya Loos at tanya@connectingcountry.org.au, or call 5472 1594.
Some background info on the Habitat for Bush Birds project: helping the feathered five
This project is working to restore habitat for five local bush bird species; the Hooded Robin, Painted Button-quail, Jacky Winter, Brown Treecreeper and Diamond Firetail. Over two years, Connecting Country and participating landowners will carry out 300 ha of habitat restoration actions within 11 priority habitat zones. With the community’s help, we will also be scanning the Mount Alexander shire and immediate surrounds for the feathered five; as the more sightings we have, the better able we are to measure our success in helping these plucky yet threatened little birds. More information is available on our website (click here) and some new bird-watching activities will be announced soon. (The Habitat for Bush Birds project is supported by the Victorian Government through Communities for Nature funding.)
Birdwatchers aplenty at the Castlemaine Botanic Gardens
Posted on 26 August, 2014 by Tanya Loos
The Castlemaine Botanic Gardens has been all aflutter with burgeoning birdwatchers this month! A Beginners Workshop was held on the 2nd August 2014, followed by an Intermediate Birdwatching Skills Workshop on the 16th.
The workshops were presented by Tanya Loos, Habitat for Bush Birds Project Coordinator and Geoff Park, bird photographer and naturalist from the Natural Newstead blog. Both keen birders, it was interesting to note that the key messages of both workshops were quite similar!
- Get yourself at least one field guide to the Birds of Australia (The ‘Pizzey and Knight’ was the preference of the presenters, but they also acknowledged that the others were also very useful – Simpson and Day; Slater; Morcombe).
- Use the field guide and observations in your local area to get to know the features of the main woodland bird families (groupings) such as thornbills, whistlers and robins.
- Use your field guide to nut out key features such as field marks and behaviour. Field marks are the particular feather patterns, coloration, size, shape, bill structure, etc that help us distinguish closely related groups of birds.
- Knowing what are our typical local species also helps. It narrows down the range of possibilities for a new unknown bird that you have seen or heard.
Write-ups and photos of the workshops, and a list of resources are available: Beginners Birdwatching and Intermediate Skills.
It was really inspiring and heartwarming to see how everyone is keen as mustard to get out in the field and enjoy birdwatching, and bird monitoring. To this end, a Community Bird Monitoring Kit is in preparation. This kit will have a list of local bird species and families, a how-to guide on bird monitoring, an Excel data-recording template for those of you who are computer-orientated, and hard copy data-sheets as well. Coming soon!
Birdwatching training dates announced
Posted on 18 July, 2014 by Tanya Loos
Hi everyone! I wanted to introduce myself as the newest staff member at Connecting Country – the Habitat for Bush Birds Project Coordinator. My name is Tanya, and I live just beyond the southern limits of the Mount Alexander shire, on the outskirts of the Wombat Forest. Cold weather is no deterrent to birdwatching, and here you can see me in my typical woolly winter garb.
I have been developing a calendar of events for the Habitat for Bush Birds project that that includes birdwatching training for beginners and intermediate birdwatchers. I am pleased to announce that the dates are set!
Nature-based events in this region are very popular, and workshops of this kind are unfortunately limited to thirty participants. I encourage you to book for either workshop, rather than both, as more training events will be offered next year.
The first workshop is recommended for beginning birdwatchers who describe birds this way: “It was small, with yellow on it”. If you are familiar with the general bird groups such as whistlers, pardalotes, thornbills, finches; then the intermediate workshop is for you. If you are not sure – feel free to give me a call or an email!
Birdwatching for absolute beginners
Date: Sat 2nd August 2014
Location and time: Castlemaine Botanical Gardens Tea Rooms 2-4pm
Just starting out? This workshop is a practical exploration of the common and highly visible species and how to identify them. A big focus on garden birds means you can practice your skills at home. I will be presenting this workshop, and I look forward to sharing with you the easy enjoyment of birdwatching for pleasure and conservation.
Intermediate birdwatching skills
Date: Sat 16th August 2014
Location and time: To be confirmed.
Geoff Park, naturalist and photographer from the Natural Newstead blog provides tips and hints for identifying LBB’s ( or little brown birds), the males and females of commonly seen species and some of the trickier local birds.
The Habitat for Bush Birds project also has a strong focus on monitoring – with the aim of locating where threatened birds are present – and absent – over the whole Mount Alexander region. We have dubbed the focal species the feathered five. Soon to feature on the blog: dates of monitoring excursions later in the year.
To find out more, or book a place, contact Tanya Loos at tanya@connectingcountry.org.au, or call 5472 1594.
Some background info on the Habitat for Bush Birds project: helping the feathered five Continue Reading »