Swanbourne
Swansong
We finished banding at Mt
Claremont in August as Boyd is planning to move to the south west permanently.
Neither Toni nor I felt like taking it over as it is quite a difficult site
with a lot of sand dunes to lug all the gear up.
We are all 20 years older now and find its getting harder. As well as that we
both plan to go away a lot. (hopefully).
Boyd is talking about banding down there so we might go and help with that
sometimes.
Helen Frederiksen
From
the Editor
Members please forward your
photos, reports on your banding or any articles that you may have written or
interesting ones you have found. At times we do not have enough for an issue.
Thanks Jonny for your latest report which will head the next newsletter.
We have received the
Swanbourne group’s reports consistently as well as the Broome ones. Thanks to
those groups for sending them through. Sad to learn that the Swanbourne group
will be breaking up. We hope that their members will join other groups and
continue their hobby.
Personally things are
improving and we hope to resume some of our banding projects. Although Perry can
no longer handle birds his wealth of knowledge will assist those of us who can.
We would like to welcome a
new member to the association. Dr Alan Brooks
Alan writes:
I would like to introduce myself
as an experienced bird bander who has just arrived in WA to retire. One of my
first priorities is to get involved in banding near my new home, which is in
Denmark near the Wilson Inlet. I therefore need to make contact with an
experienced bander who will be able to mentor me for an Australian 'A' licence.
Once this has been achieved, I would like to set up a long-term population
study of birds in this area - something which seems to be lacking from the list
of current projects on your website.
(We have contacted banders in the area for Alan Ed.)
I took up this fascinating hobby
on retirement five years ago so my experience is purely amateur. Nevertheless, I
have already handled more than 12,000 birds from 376 different species; I have
done voluntary work in Turkey and Kenya, as well as locally. Most of my
experience is with mistnets and small passerines in South Africa, but I have
also had some experience with waders, vultures, oxpeckers (relocation), raptors
(mostly caught on bal chatri), and Sociable Weavers. I have also taken a
few blood samples (mostly from Oxpeckers).
In addition to my direct
involvement in banding, I also enjoy writing articles of a more popular nature;
you can read a couple of them on the Afring News website (http://safring.adu.org.za/afring_news_current.php),
especially my experiences in Turkey (A Tale Of Two Ringing Sites).
My first job will be to get to grips with the local birds in
South Coast WA, but I have visited the area a couple of times, so I already have
some knowledge of the local birds.
I have ordered a copy of Perry's guide which I shall study intently so
that I can get to grips with the local species. I am keen to join the WBA.
I met some farmers on the flight over here who have a place at Frankland
River and they often have a group of banders on their property. (I
am guessing Ron Watkins Ed)
I
hope to set up my own project around the Wilson Inlet.
Welcome to the WBA
Alan
Committee
Please feel free to contact any one of
the committee if you have any ideas for 2012's planner. Would you like help
at your patch? Need help with writing up your study? Ideas on how to set up a
new study? Anything at all, just let us know and we can include it in the plan
for next year
Planner
2012
Please forward
details of events you would like to see on next years planner to Alma. Have we
been to your patch lately? Where shall we go for a campout? Social events? etc,
Let Alma know your ideas.
Subscriptions
are now due – see below
Subscription Address: “Waldja”,
35 Crossman Road, Boddington WA 6390. Tel. (08) 9883 9309.
Eyre Bird Observatory
Volunteer Caretakers:
Eyre Bird Observatory is seeking enthusiastic volunteers to
care take the
facility. The observatory is a not for profit research, education and nature
based facility. Duties include public relations, weather reporting to Bureau of
Meteorology, cooking for overnight guests, cleaning and office duties. Being a
bird enthusiasts will be a bonus. Accommodation and food provided free of
charge.
Eyre is situated in a wilderness environment in the Great Australian
Bight.
Contact: eyrebirdobs@bigpond.com.au or check the website www.eyrebirds.org/
Cockatoo Feather DNA Study
Nicole White is carrying out the above study and would like help
from WBA members to achieve her aims, she asks that all specimens collected are
sent using the form on the left with the help of the instruction form on the
right.
Nicole says that if the optimum 3, 4 or 5 feather samples are unable to be
taken, then even one feather may be enough to produce some results.
Webmaster's Note: If the graphics below are individually
copied and pasted into a word processing program, they can be resized to suit.
ABBBS Data Submission
Over the past few years, the ABBBS has
developed a 'web-portal' into
the ABBBS database. The portal is divided into two parts: a non-secure public
access portal that allows the public to query coarse-scale data by species; and
a bander-only secure portal that allows registered banders to validate and
submit data to the ABBBS.
The secure portal was launched
and banders are now able to register and log on to the system to look up band
issues and location codes, validate their data and submit it to the banding
office electronically. It is hoped that this new system will improve the quality
of the incoming data, as well as improve the efficiency of the banding office in
processing the enormous quantity of data that is submitted each year
There
will be instruction sheets available to banders on how to register, log on,
validate data, submit data, and use the other facilities available on the site.
The portal can be accessed at the ABBBS homepage: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/science/abbbs/
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