Folks,
Last week I was working in George Street in Brisbane all of the week. On the Monday I was walking from the Queensland Museum over the Victoria Bridge into the City. I have walked this bridge many, many times over the years and always assumed that the birds that I saw hawking over the river from under the bridge were Fairy Martins; after all don't Fairy Martins roost and nest under bridges in SEQ generally? On this particular occasion a bird passed quite close to me and I couldn't detect the russet head of a Fairy Martin. This caused me to pay closer attention to these birds and I was surprised to find that the twenty plus birds flying about were all Tree Martins (and a few Welcome Swallows).
This intrigued me and I discussed it that night with fellow birder Terry Reis with whom I was staying in Teneriffe. Terry said that, in his experience, Tree Martins were much more common in the Brisbane City area than were Fairies; and he was aware of the Victoria Bridge birds as well. I also discussed this with another friend Greg Czechura from the Queensland Museum. Greg said that the Tree Martins had been under the Victoria Bridge 'for years' and that they roosted and nested there. He also said that they were occasionally joined by a few Fairy Martins but that this was a rarity.
It really shows that it's unwise to take preconcieved notions for granted, birding or otherwise. Now I wonder exactly how many Fairy Martins I've actually seen in Brisbane. I do know that I definitely saw them nesting at Old Boggo Road Goal, Dutton Park on 15th October 2003, on an open-day there but that is now my only positive record of the species for Brisbane. There were about 30 active nests high under the eaves of a building at the goal.
So, all I now know is that I have one definite record each for Tree Martin and Fairy Martin for the city.
Regards,
Rod Hobson
Tree Martins in Brisbane
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