Contact Call - Birds Australia

Contact CallLITERATURE INSIGHTSDrongos on the moveWood (2012) presented an analysis of Atlas andliterature records of the Spangled Drongo in easternAustralia. Drongos were present in north Queenslandthroughout the year, but Wood found evidence of asouthward migration in October and November with areturn movement in March to May, with the formerconcentrated near the coast but the latter more widelydispersed.Birds in the diet of feral catsFeral cats in north Queensland savannas preferred tocatch and eat mammals, but also consumed a range ofreptiles and birds (Kutt 2012). Birds in the weightrange of 50-100 g were preferred, a previous paperfrom the same study listing quail and button-quail asparticularly frequent in the diet. Interestingly, thesepreferences also depended on the size of the cat, catsin the 3-4 kg range being more likely to consume birdsthan those that were smaller or larger. There was alsoa hint in the data that males may be more likely toconsume birds than females.Counting TorriesThe usefulness of counting Torresian Imperial Pigeonsas they fly back from the mainland to the island theynest on in the late afternoon has been evaluated andconfirmed by Brothers & Bone (2012). They presentanalyses for islands along the north Queensland coastfrom the Low Isles near Mossman north to RockyIsland near Iron Range. Analyses of the timing of thereturn flights from 3:30 PM to dark counted in 15-minute intervals showed that about 70% of birdsreturned between 5 and 6 PM. Comparison of somehistorical (c. 1958 to c. 1988) counts with 2008 countsfor six islands (Woody, Night, Pipon, Hannah, HayIsland and Three Isles) suggest that the populationthere has been stable or increased slightly.Written by Don FranklinBirdLife Northern Queenslandwww.birdsaustralianq.orgAugust 2013 11