We studied the social organisation, parental care and reproductive strategies in the Southern Scrub-robin Drymodes brunneopygia (Petroicidae) at Gluepot Reserve, South Australia, from August to November in 2001 and 2002. Mean territory size was 2.9 ha. Six nests were monitored in 2001, and 18 in 2002. Twenty-three of 24 nests were placed on the ground. Seven nests were watched during incubation for a total of 66.3 hours. Female daylight incubation constancy was 70.9%, the mean duration of incubation on-bouts was 14.46 minutes and of off-bouts was 6.62 minutes.The mean number of incubation bouts was 2.9 per hour and 34.8 per 12-hour day. Incubation feeding of the female at the nest by the male was 0.2 times per hour. The nestling period was 9–12 days. The time that females spent brooding and biparental nestling food delivery were recorded at seven nests for a total 90.5 hours. Brooding constancy by the female for the entire nestling period was 44.7%. The mean number of food-delivery trips by male and female combined was 7.4 per hour, and of nest visits was 9.1 per hour. In 2002, six females renested after their first nests failed. Nest success combined for both 2001 and 2002 was 54.2% (13 of 24 nests). Reproductive strategies of anti-predator behaviour, and nest placement following nest predation were examined in relation to the risk of nest predation. This species adjusted its reproductive strategies after nest predation by placing re-nests distant from failed nests and changing nest substrate. Reproductive traits of the Southern Scrub-robin were compared with three other coexisting robins at Gluepot Reserve: Red-capped Robin Petroica goodenovii, Jacky Winter Microeca fascinans and Hooded Robin Melanodryas cucullata.
Cooperative breeding in birds has interested behavioural and evolutionary biologists for decades. The behaviour is rare and has been documented in relatively few species but is suspected to be under-recorded. Here, I report cooperative breeding in the Morotai Paradise Kingfisher Tanysiptera doris (a recent split from Common Paradise Kingfisher T. galatea) on the island of Morotai, Indonesia. In October 2022, I watched three adults provision nestlings in an arboreal termitarium ~7–8 m above the ground. To the best of my knowledge, cooperative breeding has previously been documented in only one other paradise kingfisher species, and in no kingfisher in Wallacea. Morotai Paradise Kingfishers appear to occur locally at an exceptionally high density, and I suspect that cooperative breeding in this species might have evolved because of the saturation of breeding resources. I speculate that cooperative breeding is under-reported in kingfishers.
Powerful Owls Ninox strenua frequent peri-urban habitat (along with original forest habitats) along the Yarra River corridor in suburban Melbourne, Victoria, but can be difficult to detect because of their secretive nature, nocturnal activity, low numbers and large home ranges. The distinctive double-hoot call of the Powerful Owl is a reliable indicator of its presence. Listening surveys conducted by observers in the field are a standard survey technique used to detect the Powerful Owl. These surveys are time-intensive and the number of sites that can be surveyed at once is limited by the number of observers available. To increase the amount of audio data gathered in our Powerful Owl surveys, we used multiple autonomous audio recorders and analysis of spectrograms to detect calls along the Yarra River corridor. Four hundred and eighty instances of Powerful Owls calling at dawn, dusk or during the night were detected at 16 sites from February to December 2023. The resulting dataset revealed key roost sites, areas visited during the night, and changes in habitat use. Audio monitoring also detected mating vocalisations and the calls of juvenile Owls. Our observations show that audio monitoring is an effective tool for detecting the Powerful Owl and provide insight into its behaviour and use of habitat.
We observed and photographed an unusual looking male fairy-wren at Lake Eden, north of Brisbane, Queensland. Its plumage displayed a blend of Variegated Fairy-wren Malurus lamberti and Superb Fairy-wren M. cyaneus characteristics, supporting the notion of a novel hybridisation event between these two species. We have observed this likely hybrid on multiple occasions in close association with two individuals displaying female or immature Superb Fairy-wren plumage, pointing to the possibility of backcrossed offspring at this location now or in the near future.
The White-throated Needletail Hirundapus caudacutus caudacutus is listed as Vulnerable under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and interaction with onshore wind farms has been suggested as a threatening process for this taxon in Australia. Despite these concerns, there is an absence of data to assess the actual levels of risk and to design appropriate mitigation measures. We present a proof of concept for the use of the IdentiFlight System to automate the collection of data on occurrence and flight attributes of White-throated Needletails from an operational wind farm in Tasmania. Despite having not been recorded in pre-construction bird surveys using human surveyors, the automated detection system recorded 2982 tracks of White-throated Needletails passing through the site in the period 2020–2025, with 86% of the records occurring in February and March. Birds were recorded on a total of 377 days; there were single records on 144 (38%) days and ≥5 records on 105 (28%) days. When multiple records were recorded on the same day, the median time between the first and last detection was 4 minutes. There was a strong diurnal pattern, with peaks in occurrence 3–4 hours after dawn and 3–4 hours before dusk. Of the 2982 birds recorded, 53% had at least one height recorded within the rotor-swept area. These results clearly demonstrate the potential to utilise data collected by the IdentiFlight System to gain new insights into the interactions of White-throated Needletails with wind farms that can be used to inform risk assessments and mitigation approaches for this and other under-studied avifauna species.
