Susan Island is an island in the Clarence River at Grafton, north coast NSW, and contains the largest remnant of lowland subtropical (dry) rainforest on the Clarence floodplain. It has great ecological and cultural significance being an aboriginal women's place.
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| Wendy completing data cards |
Bird Banding was carried out at the eastern end of Susan Island on 21-22 June and at the western end on 26-28 July 2014. In June I was the only bander with Andrew Tarrant, Bill O'Donnell and Jess Smidt assisting. In July Bill Greenlees, Wendy and Alan Pilkington and I banded while Andrew Tarrant assisted on the Saturday.
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| Mist net set in powerline easement |
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| 'whistler' net near camp |
One hundred
and fifty-seven birds were mist netted over the five days, 14 on 21 June, 23 on
22 June, 41 on 26 July, 53 on 27 July and 26 on July 28. One hundred and
twenty-five were new birds and thirty-two were retraps.
The results
are shown in the table below.
SPECIES
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21/06
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22/06
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26/07
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27/07
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28/7
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TOTAL
|
|
Band
Ret
|
Band
Ret
|
Band
Ret
|
Band
Ret
|
Band
Ret
|
B
R
|
Laughing
Kookaburra
|
0 0
|
1
0
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
1
0
|
Grey
Fantail
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
1
0
|
1
0
|
2
0
|
Eastern
Yellow Robin
|
0 0
|
0
0
|
7
3
|
1
2
|
0
1
|
8
6
|
Golden
Whistler
|
0 0
|
1
0
|
7 2
|
8
6
|
3 3
|
19 11
|
Grey
Shrike-thrush
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
3
0
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
3
0
|
Little
Shrike-thrush
|
0
0
|
0 0
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
1
0
|
1
0
|
Brown
Thornbill
|
0 0
|
0 0
|
1
0
|
0
0
|
1
0
|
2
0
|
White-browed
Scrubwren
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
1
0
|
1
0
|
Large-billed
Scrubwren
|
0 0
|
0
0
|
1
1
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
1
1
|
Tawny
Grassbird
|
0
0
|
3
0
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
0 0
|
3
0
|
Superb
Fairy-wren
|
7
0
|
1 0
|
0
0
|
1
0
|
1
1
|
10 1
|
Silvereye
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
4
0
|
13
1
|
2
0
|
19
1
|
Lewin’s
Honeyeater
|
0 0
|
2
0
|
9
3
|
7
5
|
3
4
|
21 12
|
Red-browed
Finch
|
7
0
|
15 0
|
0
0
|
7 0
|
4
0
|
33
0
|
Striated
Pardalote
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
0
0
|
1
0
|
0
0
|
1 0
|
TOTALS
|
14 0
|
23 0
|
32
9
|
39 14
|
17
9
|
125 32
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%2BPardalote2.jpg) |
| Striated (Black-headed) Pardalote |
The Striated
Pardalote was the first one ever banded on the Island. A high percentage (20.9%) of all birds caught
were retraps. The 33 retraps comprised 6
retraps of 5 different Eastern Yellow Robins, 12 retraps of 10 Golden
Whistlers, 1 Large-billed Scrubwren, 1 Superb Fairy-wren, 1 Silvereye, and 12 retraps
of 10 different Lewin’s Honeyeaters.
The dates of
original banding of these retraps were as follows:
Eastern
Yellow Robin: 26/05/11, 29/05/11, 28/07/12, 30/07/12, 26/07/14.
Golden
Whistler: 27/10/08, 28/05/11, 29/07/12, 26/07/14, 27/07/14.
Large-billed
Scrubwren: 26/06/10
Superb
Fairy-wren: 27/07/14
Silvereye:
26/06/10
Lewin’s
Honeyeater: 30/08/09, 28/06/10, 28/05/11, 26/07/14, 27/07/14.
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| Adult male Eastern Yellow Robin |
While a small
number of these retraps were from a day or two earlier most were at least two
years from banding and some as long as 6+ years since banding.
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Adult male Golden Whistler
|
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| Adult male Golden Whistler with Victorian tail colour |
Twelve of the
Golden Whistlers caught had tail wing ratios indicating that they were
Tasmanian birds, 2 were locals and 8 were in the overlap zone of measurements
meaning that they could be Tasmanian or local birds or from areas in between. One adult male with a Victorian type upper
tail colouration was in the overlap zone and one with similar tail colouration
was within the range of Tasmanian birds.
A female plumaged bird with a Tasmanian ratio had whitish undertail coverts
and vent which is a Tasmanian character however another with a similar ratio
had yellow undertail coverts and vent (a mainland character). The two Grey Fantails were Tasmanian birds based
on tail-wing ratios. Six of the Silvereyes were ‘A’ type (race cornwalli) from the area between Sydney and
central Queensland), 3 were A-B type (from central NSW), one was B type (southern
NSW-Victoria, race westernensis) and one
was a B-D type (Victoria-Tasmania) (between race westernensis and lateralis.
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| Female plumaged Golden Whistler with white undertail coverts |
The banding
and observations of the White-browed Scrubwren, Large-billed Scrubwren, Little
Shrike-thrush, Eastern Yellow Robin and Tawny Grassbird are all
significant. Prior to 1997 cattle were
grazed on the Island. Up till then there
had been only a few observational records of the Eastern Yellow Robin and Tawny
Grassbird. Since the cattle were removed
both species have been recorded on almost every visit to the Island and 40
Yellow Robins have been banded since 2008, with a number of retraps being made,
and 21 Grassbirds have been banded since 1998.
The first White-browed Scrubwren was mist-netted on the Island by
Dominique Potvin in 2009. She didn’t
band it as she was only licenced to band Silvereyes. The first one banded on the Island was in
September 2011 so the one banded in July this year is only the second banded on
the Island. The first banding of a
Large-billed Scrubwren on the Island was in August 2009 and there have now been
5 banded with a couple of retraps. This is a testimony to the value of removing
stock from the Island and the great work that the Susan & Elizabeth Islands
Trust and the National Parks & Wildlife Service have done in association
with contractors such as Envite and volunteers.
Even the proliferation of weeds has helped the recovery of the bird
populations. Stands of weeds such as
Wild Tobacco, Castor Oil Plant, and a variety of annuals, which don’t threaten
the native plants, provide cover for a variety of birds. The biggest threats to the native plants are
the introduced vine weeds which mostly hail from South America. There is ongoing work to control them.
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| A-B Silvereye showing rich buff flanks |
A great
variety of birds, a few mammals and two reptiles were observed or heard. Two Spangled Drongos chased a Black-faced
Cuckoo-shrike, which was carrying food in its bill, out over the waters of the
Clarence River. One bird flew back but the
other actively pursued the Cuckoo-shrike.
I have previously observed and written about this kleptoparasitism in
the Spangled Drongo. An adult Peregrine
Falcon was perched in a large Forest Red Gum on both days in June. During the July banding one was observed to
alight on a tall power pole at Grafton, just north of the Island. A grey morph Grey Goshawk was seen on both
trips. When transporting gear back to
Grafton on July 28 we saw a Square-tailed Kite soaring low over the trees and
buildings near the main street.
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| Immature White-necked Heron |
The full
species list for the two visits is presented below:
Mammals
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| Grey-headed Flying-fox |
Grey-headed
Flying-fox
Black
Flying-fox
Fox (June
only – two were baited before July trip)
Reptiles
Garden
Sun-skink
Red-bellied
Black Snake
Birds
Australian
Wood Duck
Pacific Black
Duck
Australasian
Grebe
White-headed
Pigeon
*Spotted Dove
Bar-shouldered
Dove
Australasian
Darter
Little Pied
Cormorant
Great
Cormorant
Little Black
Cormorant
Pied
Cormorant
Australian
Pelican
White-necked
Heron
Eastern Great
Egret
White-faced
Heron
Australian
White Ibis
Straw-necked
Ibis
Royal
Spoonbill
Eastern
Osprey
White-bellied
Sea-Eagle
Whistling
Kite
Brahminy Kite
Brown Goshawk
Grey Goshawk
Peregrine
Falcon
Dusky Moorhen
Black-shouldered
Lapwing
Australian
Gull-billed Tern
Silver Gull
Galah
Little
Corella
Rainbow
Lorikeet
Scaly-breasted
Lorikeet
Shining
Bronze-Cuckoo
Laughing
Kookaburra
Rainbow
Bee-eater
Noisy Pitta
Superb
Fairy-wren
Red-backed
Fairy-wren
White-browed Scrubwren
Large-billed
Scrubwren
Brown
Gerygone
Brown
Thornbill
Spotted
Pardalote
Striated
Pardalote
Eastern
Spinebill
Lewin’s
Honeyeater
Yellow-faced
Honeyeater
Brown
Honeyeater
Noisy
Friarbird
Black-faced
Cuckoo-shrike
Varied
Triller
Golden Whistler
Rufous
Whistler
Little
Shrike-thrush
Grey
Shrike-thrush
Australasian
Figbird
Pied
Butcherbird
Australian
Magpie
Pied
Currawong
Spangled
Drongo
Grey Fantail
Willie
Wagtail
Torresian
Crow
Rose Robin
Eastern
Yellow Robin
Tawny
Grassbird
Silvereye
Mistletoebird
Tree Martin
Red-browed
Finch
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| Adult Brahminy Kite perched in Forest Red Gum near camp |
