Sunday 28 December 2014

MY DAILY CHALLENGE - UPDATE

This morning I completed my second set of ten walks in each direction from my home:  north, south, east and west.  As previously noted, to add interest to my daily constitutional, I record all the birds I see and hear on each walk.  The results overall are unsurprising, although I had hoped that as the weather warmed, I'd see more birds.  This has not been the case.

The most common birds were, as previously reported, Spotted Dove, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red Wattlebird, Australian Magpie and Common Myna, followed closely by Noisy Miner, Little Raven and Common Blackbird.

I only saw Willie Wagtails on the north walk (8 out of 10 walks) and saw Brown Thornbills on about half of my walks in each direction.  I did not see Spotted Pardalotes at all, which was disappointing, as I certainly looked when I heard them, which I did on only three occasions:  once north, once south and once east.  I did not see any Silver Gulls, but saw Welcome Swallows in every direction.

I recorded Grey Butcherbirds about half the time (north:  4; south:  4; east:  4; and west:  7) and was quite surprised to note that this was more often than on my previous walks.  Had I not kept records, my memory would have been that I saw and heard them more in August and September than in October and November.  Can't trust my memory!

The north walk, which ends in a large park, remains the most productive (average of 13 species).  The other three are about the same (average 11 each).  My highest score was 16 species, predictably on a north walk.  I don't seem able to do any better than that, however, as summer progresses I will continue to try!

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