Hi Stan -
Sounds like Broadwater SFP is a great place. If I can put in a plug for our
Nest Record Scheme (NRS), I note that:
At 21:16 19/05/1998 +1000, you wrote:
>(ii) a Grey-Headed Robin sitting on 1 egg on its large untidy nest on a
>lawyer vine frond 2 metres above ground;
We only have four records of GHR in the NRS. More would be very welcome.
>(iii) a Large-Billed Gerygone feeding a young Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo only
>a few metres away from the Gerygones nest.
The NRS has NO records of HBC parasitising Large-billed Gerygone, although
it has four records of Little Bronze-Cuckoo and one of Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo
parasitising that species.
The NRS is our oldest and longest ongoing project, having been started in
1964 by Stephen Marchant, and it now has around 90,000 records. After a few
recent years of just idling, it is now being revved up. When the current
NRS Project Officer, Rory Poulter, started in January 1997, about 20% of the
records had been entered on a computer database; the figure is now about
90%, and Rory estimates that all records will be on the database within a
couple of months. New records are now entered as soon as they are received.
The information is in continual and increasing demand, not only from the
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB) project,
but also from many professional and amateur researchers on the breeding
biology of Australian birds.
Contributing to the NRS is fairly easy. Many birders come across active
nests, or other unambiguous evidence of breeding, in the bush or in their
backyards. You just fill in a form for each bird breeding event you come
across and send it in. The top three species are Willie Wagtail, Welcome
Swallow and Australian Magpie. However, we would welcome more information
on ALL Australian bird species (including introduced ones) - there is NO
species for which we think we know enough and need no further information.
At the other end of the database are up to a couple of hundred species with
no records at all - although this does include those birds (such as many
waders and seabirds) that do not breed in Australia and its territories.
If you would like more information about the NRS and how you could
contribute, please call or send a message to Rory Poulter at the contact
numbers and address below, or to <>
Cheers, Hugo.
Hugo Phillipps,
Birds Australia Conservation & Liaison,
Australian Bird Research Centre,
415 Riversdale Road,
Hawthorn East, VIC 3123, Australia.
Tel: (03) 9882 2622. Fax: (03) 9882 2677.
O/s: +61 3 9882 2622. Fax: +61 3 9882 2677.
Email: <>
Web Homepage: http://www.vicnet.net.au/~birdsaus/
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