Banding and sighting data accumulated from 1965-2020 at seven sites across the north-west and south-east sectors of the Cumberland Plain were utilised to show that Rufous Whistlers Pachycephala rufiventris frequented these sites from September to April and, except for a few isolated records in June, were absent from May to August. Many individuals returned for a number of seasons after initial banding with an average percentage return across all sites of 20.3% (range 16.7–33.0%). The average seasonal return of individual birds was 1.3 seasons (range 1.0 –1.9). The longest duration recorded from initial banding to last recapture (14 seasons) was an individual that frequented the Humewood/Beulah Forest site. No individuals were recaptured away from their initial banding site on the Cumberland Plain or away from the Cumberland Plain. There was little difference between the sexes in the proportion that returned to their banding site.
The threatened Bulloo Grey Grasswren (Amytornis b. barbatus) was studied over a 6-year period in the ephemeral flood channels of the Bulloo River system, within the Narriearra-Caryapundy Swamp National Park, NSW. Building on earlier work, this study aimed to better delineate the size of foraging areas and determine the vegetation communities in which these birds forage and roost. VHF radio tracking was used to obtain multiple point locations for each of 13 individual birds, through time. These were used to estimate the size of individual foraging areas. Vegetation communities were mapped over orthomosaics generated from drone-captured images. Bird point locations were then plotted over vegetation communities to assess habitat utilisation. Roosting and foraging occurred primarily within Lignum thickets (52.6%), and birds foraged in Old Man Saltbush (30.6%), Swamp Canegrass (5.6%) and mixed Old Man Saltbush/Swamp Canegrass (11.2%) communities. The average adult Grey Grasswren foraging area (43.7 ha) far exceeded those published for congeners. The size of the average male foraging area (61.9 ha) was much larger than females (34.6 ha). Males also made the longest movements within a day, suggesting that males may be more nomadic within their limited habitat than females. In 2022, a pair of tracked females was found to remain with a juvenile bird for 19 days, highlighting the need for further investigation into group dynamics and possibly cooperative breeding in this species. This species
requires large areas of flood channel containing multiple vegetation communities for long-term persistence.
A pilot study to radio-track the movements of Grey Grasswrens Amytornis barbatus barbatus in north-western New
South Wales was conducted during September, 2017. Four birds were tracked for 5–7 days using small radio-transmitters attached to the interscapular area. Minimum foraging areas varied from approximately 18 to 53 ha and encompassed a variety of plant associations dominated by Lignum Muehlenbeckia florulenta. The longest daily movement recorded was approximately 1.6 km. We also established that these birds returned to roost at night in a central area of thick Lignum. This study showed that it is possible to track Grey Grasswrens through dense thickets of Lignum and to identify their minimum foraging areas.
Scheyville National Park encompasses two threatened woodland communities and one Eucalyptus forest i.e. Cumberland Plain Woodland, Castlereagh Scribbly Gum Woodland and Shale Gravel Transition Forest. It provides habitat for at least 98 bird species. In 1997, banding, plot counts and species lists were used to examine if these floristic communities contained different avian assemblages. Differences were found among the avian assemblages of all floristic communities and between sites within a floristic community. The richest and most abundant avian assemblage was associated with the presence of a creek with permanent pools of water and dense riparian vegetation. Fewer species were recorded in winter than in other seasons. However, most of the more common species were present all year, although many showed seasonal fluctuations in abundance, either over the entire study area or at certain sites. The patterns varied among species. Some fluctuations, especially in the capture data, appear to be due not to movements or breeding success but to changes in behaviour and habitat use that made the birds more ‘catchable’ at certain sites mat certain times of year. The complex habitat utilisation patterns demonstrated illustrate the importance of maintaining a diversity of forest and woodland habitats for the local avifauna, especially in the face of continuing loss of natural habitat through ever-increasing urbanisation across the region. The study also shows the value of using several different survey methods simultaneously. Each method has certain advantages and biases; using them in combination provides a more complete picture of the bird assemblage.
