The House(s) of Fran_mart

As the season advances birds are beginning to set up for breeding - or in some cases have set up and got down to business. That being the case, and noting that breeding activity is a key element of recording birds, I have decided to review what eBird has to show about breeding in the Mallacoota area. EBird uses a quite wide range of birding codes grouped together into categories of 'Confirmed, Probable and Possible.  The Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG) uses a much more restricted list but it is possible to reference one from the other.  This is my attempt at this - the official COG approach may be marginally different. t 00 Breeding codes eBird code eBird words COG code Sequence NY nest with young NY 1 NE nest with eggs NE 2 FS Faecal Sac FS 3 ON Occupied Nest ON 4 CN Carrying Nesting material NB 5 NB Nest Building NB 5 C Courtship, Display, Copulation DI/CO 6 CF Carrying Food CF 7 FY Feeding Young DY

This follows on from my posts about Cockatoos and Parrots of Mallacoota.  To some extent the catalyst for this extension was reading "Birds of Mallacoota" (2nd edition 1979) which listed a few species that are not common in the area, but also found a few that are now common to be unusual (or in two cases not reported). As a consequence of reading that book, and the research I did to support my review I now have a few more tools to refer to thanwhen I first did the cockie and parrot posts.  It will make life simpler if I list them now, together with some shorthand in some cases to save my typing: Birds of Mallacoota 1979 (the book) eBird Birdlife Australia, East Gippsland Branch Checklist of Bush Birds (the checklist) Birdlife Australia Birdata database (Birdata) Handbook of Australian New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB) The New Atlas of Australian Birds (the Atlas). The Australian Bird Guide (Menkhorst et al) - The Guide Avibase (as a source of photographs an