Breeding Birds of Mallacoota

As we are moving in to the peak breeding season (and breeding records are very important) I thought I would investigate what eBird can tell us about breeding activity  in this area.

Types of behaviour

I have started by extracting all eBird records for the area with any breeding codes.  That is effectively all the behaviour codes except 'F' - Flyover, used to indicate migration.  The number of records for each active code is shown below.
code meaning # records
A  Agitated Behaviour 2
C  Courtship, Display or Copulation 12
CF Carrying Food 3
CN Carrying nesting material 3
DD Distraction Display 4
FL Recently Fledged Young 53
FS Faecal Sac 2
FY Feeding Young 15
N  Visiting probable Nest Site 6
NB Nest Building 2
NE Nest with Eggs *** 3
NY Nest with Young *** 14
ON Occupied Nest 23
P  Pair in Suitable Habitat 1
S  Singing Male 1
T  Territorial Defence 3

I have highlighted codes NE and NY as they are certain indicators of a breeding attempt.  Ideally, what is needed is a time series of records from C to FL but this rarely happens.  However given the sparseness of the breeding records - only ~0.3% of records have a breeding code - and the eBird records are are overweight for the breeding season - every little bit helps.  I'd note that in North America the Breeding Bird Survey counts an in-season singing (male) bird (ie code S) as a breeding record.  (The great value of that survey is that it is a time series - now over 50 years of standardised effort.  The results are freely available.)

It is clear that the usage of codes is positively correlated with ease of observing the behaviour.  Recently Fledged Young (FL) are easy to spot for many species (eg cygnets of Black Swan, fluff-ball plover/lapwing chicks).  I also have a suspicion that some observers may use FL when young are observed being fed so possibly FL and FY could be combined.

Timing of observations

This is most easily represented by a chart. Note that it is on a financial year basis since (for most species) that gets the full cycle within a year.

It is pleasing to note that the correct sequence appears in the chart.
  • The 'preliminaries' (Copulation/Display; Carrying Nest material; Nest Building) peak in September;
  • Nest related observations (Occupied Nest; Nest with Eggs; Nest with Young) peak in November-December and are not reported after January;
  • After-nest events (recently FLedged young; Feeding Young) peak in December-January with a small number of reports up to June..

Species Reported Breeding

A table showing the list of 60 species and the types of breeding behaviour observed, up to the end of June 2019, is in this document.  Some interesting (to me at least) observations follow.
  • The species with the greatest number of breeding observations (9) is Red Wattlebird.  This includes 3 codes of NY, 2 of T (territorial defence), and 3 of FL - as the young birds are only subtly different in plumage to the adults I suspect some of these are actually FY.
  • The next most common are 
    • Black Swan (6 records, 5 FL - cygnets are obvious); 
    • Masked Lapwing (6 records 4 FL - the young are obvious.  Surprisingly no T records: the local birds must nest away from humans and/or are more relaxed than those in Canberra); and
    • Welcome Swallow (6 records, 5 ON.  Surprisingly no records of NB, which must mean observers are not present at the appropriate time.  I have added a record for those building on the door of the Bunker Museum this year.)
  • It was surprising to see 4 records of NY for Rufous Fantail as the species is not that frequently reported (usually being found in well vegetated gullies).  On looking more closely a TFYP (trap for young players) was revealed.  All 4 records were at the same location (Gipsy Point) and start time.  Obviously a birding group got lucky!
  • Very good to see 2 records for Australasian Figbird (both FL - juvenile plumage is a bit different to adult - especially adult male).  However this excitement must be tempered as, again, both records are of a single bird.
  • A very big surprise is that there is only a single (FL) breeding record for Australian Magpie. The local birds must be: 
    • unusually relaxed in not swooping (T) birders
    • good parents in not allowing the young to beg noisily for food until about March!
    Or - most likely - birders are slack in reporting these activities!
  • In a similar vein, it is surprising that there are few breeding records for ducks.  As ducklings (FL) are very obvious, this must be something to do with the birds nesting in hollows away from freshish water - and particularly away from the water bodies most visited by birders (the Waste Water ponds and the Lagoon at Broome St.).   Further research is needed and BIRDERS MUST TRY HARDER.
  • The pigeon family are an interesting case.  
    • If one was to regard calling during the breeding season as an indicator of breeding (which I think would be the case in North America) just about every data sheet for Mallacoota from July to February would have a breeding record for Wonga Pigeon.  With our more rigorous criteria there are only 2 records of Occupied Nest (0.2% of records for the species).
    • White-headed Pigeons are relatively recent arrivals in the area but have 5 records (1.7% of records for the species) covering Display; Carrying Nesting material and Recently Fledged Young).  In 2019 two records for Occupied Nest have been added.
    • Common Bronzewing and Crested Pigeon also make the list, but thus far Spotted Dove has not been recorded breeding (GOOD!).

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