Mt Rogers: Visiting parrots, January 2010

An especially warm welcome if this is one of your first summer walks on Mt Rogers. You’re joining a long-established, informal community of people (and pets) for whom this urban open space offers fresh air, exercise opportunities, views and contact with the numerous species that share its habitats.

Over time we’ve become more observant and been rewarded by sightings of over 80 bird species, thousands of invertebrates, dragon lizards, skinks and snakes and an expanding range of native plants trying to win back space from species introduced since Europeans settled in the region. For example Acacia implexa, Hickory wattle, is showing its creamy-yellow flowers right now. It’s native to our area but, in contrast, there are Privets with creamy yellow flowers in gardens where the owners are unaware that their weeds’ black berries have been spread into bush areas like Mt Rogers by hungry birds.

We seem to be nearing the end of the period when Mt Rogers is a hot-spot for visiting parrots. Traditionally family groups of the endangered Super parrot, Polytelis swainsonii, have flown to NW Belconnen from their NSW breeding areas around Christmastime. For a few weeks the young birds have been ‘creched’ around Mt Rogers’ trees whilst the parents forage in the suburbs. But this year was different as at least 35 Superb parrots arrived in our area as early as September. Members of the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG) have been happy to receive details of sightings in attempting to piece together the puzzle of this early-arrival event. Were these non-breeding birds? Did they come here to breed? If so did they find enough tree hollows to nest in? How do they relate to the groups of Superbs seen in reserves east of Gungahlin and the cohort of about seven birds that have been seen on the Belconnen golf-course over winter?

For probably a month there’s been no shortage of the begging calls of young Superbs around Fraser’s Wickens Place carpark trees and the delightful flights of the brilliant-green birds. Walkers have recorded “lots” of the parrots feeding on the ground amongst the mown grass. It’s hard to get used to the idea that these iconic birds might be spreading the seeds of the noxious African love-grass just as readily as the beautiful King Parrots love to eat, and therefore spread, Privet berries.

Once the young have developed greater flying stamina, family groups have dispersed over the Belconnen suburbs seeking other grassy spaces and un-harvested prunus, loquat and other fruit from gardens. There’s certainly plenty of to-and-fro flights but do they come back to Fraser to roost at night? Will most of the Superb parrots leave the ACT in mid-January or will any of them dare to compete with other species for grassy-woodland habitat and remain here? 80% of Australian birds need OLD, hollow trees for nesting. Such trees are also essential for mammals such as Sugar gliders and possums. In and around Boorowa and their other breeding areas the felling of old, dead or dangerous eucalypts has triggered the Superb parrot’s endangered status. For many decades such timber was removed from paddocks and sold as firewood. Fortunately most country-people now value fallen timber, ancient trees and the “untidy bush” as habitat and resist the temptation to “tidy-up” for appearances sake.

Scruffy trees’ peeling bark is home to a huge diversity of insects and their larvae. Timber is usually no match for the powerful beaks of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. Towards autumn we may see more of these large birds visiting Mt Rogers and any gardens where Hakeas and coniferous trees grow. Beetle and moth larvae gnaw away under trees’ bark creating the tunnels and tracks that are visible once the bark’s gone. The colours and textures of these natural patterns are glorious, especially after rain’s trickled down the trunks.

Dead branches also serve as ideal perches for robins as they survey the ground and leaf-litter for insect-movements. Scarlet robins are a feature of Mt Rogers for part of each year. They specialise in diving down towards the ground to grab larvae or insects which they’ll eat once back on the bare branch. (Check for birds’photographs in the gallery of www.canberrabirds.org.au) None of the Australian robins is related to the Robin redbreast that’s probably featured on some of your Christmas cards – settlers chose the names for look-alike reasons. The Rose and Red-capped robins that are sometimes seen passing through Mt Rogers woodland are, with the Golden and Rufous Whistlers, insect-eating birds both photogenic and worth encouraging as pest-controllers.        

They may not have been seen over Mt Rogers but we’ve all heard the penetrating calls of the Koels. Most ACT suburbs have been flown-over in recent weeks. These large cuckoos seek to lay their eggs in Wattlebird nests and leave the parenting to the hosts. Perhaps the birds we’re hearing are rounding-up the fledged koels in order to teach them how to be koels rather than large honeyeaters. The visiting, smaller cuckoos don’t have a “cuckoo” call but they do like to sing from dead-branch lookouts. They’re also insectivorous with some even specialising in devouring the really prickly-looking or hairy caterpillars. Some have iridescent feathers which would rival the colours on the wings of our Common Bronzewing pigeons.

Raptors use bare branches on Mt Rogers as lookouts for their prey. I had a report the other day of a Little Eagle flying high between Spence shops & Fraser … good news, as they are becoming increasingly rare around the ACT as development spreads into the lands that are their home ranges. Can you imagine what it would have been like for the early settlers to find Brolga, Australian Bustard and Emu in the country they worked so hard to ‘tame’? Doubtless many were eaten or scattered as settled areas spread. Mt Rogers still has vestiges of the grasslands and woody-grassland that would have supported these large, wide-ranging birds.

Even now COG members are continually amazed at the vagrant or irruptive species that are found for a few days in our region, blown-in by circumstances or by changes in their normal, distant habitats. For example Black-tailed Native hens were seen along Ginninderra Creek and near Lake Ginninderra. A Black honeyeater was feasting on the nectar of Patersons’ Curse (PC) flowers along the creek in spring. There was no shortage of these invasive, noxious weeds but on Mt Rogers numbers have been quite minimal this summer. Some of you hand-pulled isolated plants in spring which has set the species back, on our patch, for this year.       

Purple vistas in the country may be photogenic but they’re not a sign of wise-husbandry. The alkaloids in PC can be harmful to long-lived stock and wildlife and each plant’s rosette of leaves takes over soil and space from pasture grasses or native plants. Salvation Jane is the name given to PC in some states as the blooms offer food for honeybees and lead to good honey harvests in otherwise lean times.

The exceptional, or well-timed, spring rains of 2009 have shown how native plants react to good time and rainfall patterns. Onion orchids were quite dense in one place where I’d previously overlooked their possible presence whilst checking the Blue grass lilies. Creamy candles bloomed in several places and, once again the residents of Woodger Place had a great wildflower display beyond their back fences. The Grevilleas, probably planted there in the seventies, were also very colourful.

When you have dogs off leash please be aware of the terrain they’re exploring as snakes are bound to be around in the summer months. Perhaps prepare with an action-plan, should a dog be bitten, such as having vets’ phone numbers with you, together with other emergency contact numbers.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Rosemary Blemings, Convenor

Mt Rogers Landcare Group
Part of Ginninderra Catchment Group, 62783309