Apostlebirds at Murphy's Creek

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Mick Atzeni
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Apostlebirds at Murphy's Creek

Post by Mick Atzeni »

This morning on the way to work I saw a flock of 10 Apostlebirds near the Cemetery Rd T-Junction with Murphys Creek Rd. This is the first time I've seen them around Murphy's Creek and I am unaware of any other club records for there.

Interestingly, Lord (1956), who lived at Murphys Creek for decades, only had one record - a flock of 8 in Dec 1942.

Has anyone else seen them in the Murphy's Creek district, or elsewhere east of the range?

Reference:

Lord, E.A.R. (1956) The Birds of Murphy's Creek District, Southern Queensland, The Emu, 56, pp 100-128.
Michael Atzeni
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Rod Hobson
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Apostlebirds east of The Range

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

There is a flock of Apostlebirds that live in the vicinity of the Lewis Drive and Mount Crosby Road junction at Chuwar. I see these birds occasionally on my drives down from Toowoomba to our Moggill office. Lewis Drive runs off the Mount Crosby Road between the Warrego Highway and Colleges Crossing at Ipswich.

These birds have been in this area for as long as I've been travelling this route; over a decade now.

G.M. Storr in his 'Revised List of Queensland Birds' (1984) 'Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement No.19', p. 168 states that the bird is known from Toowoomba. He further states that the species has, "also recently established in western outskirts of Brisbane (Albany Creek, Yeronga, Lone Pine, Moggill)."

'HANZAB', Vol.7, Part A, (2006), p.799 adds, '... including suburban Brisbane (e.g. Everton Hills and Samsonvale).'

Regards,
Rod Hobson
Last edited by Rod Hobson on Sun Feb 21, 2010 6:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Rod Hobson
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More on Apostlebirds in SEQ

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

I have just yarned with a good friend and fellow birder Chris Corben on the subject of Apostlebirds in SEQ. Chris remembers Apostlebirds from the Lone Pine Sanctuary in the 1970's and '80's. Apparently there was some speculation that these may have been escapees, as some of these birds were on display there. The birds, however, to quote Chris, 'could just as easily have gotten into the cages as out of them'.

Chris also states that the species is still fairly common around Toogoolawah although you need to search for them. Apparently they're often in company of Grey-crowned Babblers and/or White-winged Choughs in areas that still retain good tree cover.

Thanks for this, Chris.

Regards,
Rod Hobson
Last edited by Rod Hobson on Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
Rod Hobson
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and here's some more ..........

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

Some more Apostlebird sites from SEQ courtesy of three of my birding friends:

Greg Czechura - Hawkesbury Road at Anstead; around the Primary School at Samford; Rocksburg behind Caboolture; Bribie Road at Wamuran; Gregors Road near Kilcoy.

Harry Hines - Chuwar near Ipswich; Witty Road at Moggill.

Terry Reis - Moggill.

My thanks to Greg, Harry and Terry for this information.

Watch this space.

Regards,
Rod Hobson
Last edited by Rod Hobson on Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:52 am, edited 3 times in total.
gileas
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Apostlebirds at Lone Pine

Post by gileas »

Sadly they are no longer in the area - I live just around the corner from Lone Pine and have never seen Apostlebirds in the area so clearly by the time I started birding the area they were gone already. On the note of escapes, when the block next to Lone Pine was developed they allegedly found many animals believed to have escaped from the sanctuary including families of echidnas, wallabies and some reptiles that didn't belong in the area. The Swamp Wallabies and Echidnas are still in the area, though I can't confirm if they were a relict population that survived urbanisation or were indeed escapees.

Regards,
Chris

ps. Fig Tree Pocket, the suburb Lone Pine is in, is an amazing urban refuge for wildlife - my list of birds for the area is rapidly approaching 150.
Rod Hobson
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Additional Information for Apostlebirds

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

A good friend and fellow natural history addict Ian Gynther has just informed me that the Apostlebirds are still at Witty and Hawkesbury Roads, Moggill. Ian speculates that the Hawkesbury Road birds 'might be connected' with Greg Czechura's Anstead birds (see my posting above of the 22nd. February). Ian has recently recorded the species in Palm Court off Parasol Street, Bellbowrie as well.

Thanks to Ian for this information.

Regards,
Rod Hobson
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Mick Atzeni
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Apostlebirds at Anstead

Post by Mick Atzeni »

Fellow Apostlebird apostles

Noticed this report of 21 birds at Anstead Bush Reserve on Birding-Aus today:

.://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/bir ... 00401.html

Cheers
Mick
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