Pardalote Holt: March and much about Ducks

Plumed Whistling ducks line the banks of the dam.

When we first built Pardalote Holt and it's dam we were delighted to welcome, after a very short period, our first ducks to the dam. These brave and intrepid colonizers were Pacific Black Ducks, common across most of Australia and largely, very well behaved. Before long the PBDs were joined by Wood Ducks, very commonly seen locally, but really more suited to grasslands and farms than in the thicker wooded areas such as Pardalote Holt. Over the next few years that was about it apart from the very occasional visit of a lone Grey Teal or Hardhead, that would stay for a day or so and then wander off. Another visitor who has been seen on a far more regular basis is a Mallard drake, presumably escaped from someone's collection. At any one time it was rare to see more than a dozen or so ducks on the dam.

Hardhead Duck

A few years ago, at Christmas, we were visited by a pair of Plumed Whistling Ducks, real beauties with barred chestnut coloured bellies and 'upswept cream flank-plumes'. As with the other 'rarities' they stayed a few days and then pushed off, but the following Christmas they reappeared, and the next Christmas again. For the last 4-5 years I would be awaiting their arrival for the festive season and they never let me down. I have no idea whether it was the same pair, or whether it was just the time of the year that the species passed through the region, but they never let me down.

Last year things changed. Instead of Christmas the Plumed Whistling Ducks arrived early, just a few days before the hail storm, and instead of a lone pair there was a dozen of them. When the hail storm hit one was unfortunately killed, but the others stayed on, so I got used to the pleasure of seeing them on the dam on a daily basis. I still expected them to move on in January, as had happened in the past, but not only did they stay, but more joined them.

Plumed Whistling Ducks craning to see what's happening.

By the end of February the number of Plumed Whistling Ducks on the dam had increased to 65 comprising at least four distinct family groups, each taking one part of the dam walls to preen and roost. When one family came in contact with another there would be quite a kafuffle as each group competed for territory. No real violence, but a lot of bowed heads, strutting and a lot of noise. Pizzey & Knight describe the call as a 'spirited whizzing whistle' and this suits well. Normally not too noticeable, but when family groups collide this would raise to cacophony level and if I was on the phone would have to retreat indoors.

However, things haven't stopped there and the numbers have continued to rise. Yesterday a passing Collared Sparrowhawk spooked them onto the waters of the dam all at once and I was able to count them fully. 92- ducks! Add this to the two dozen PBD's and 8- 10 Wood Ducks and my small patch of water is now home to over a hundred ducks, none of whom show any sign of moving on. When I'm filling the birdtables in the morning I almost feel as if I'm being shepherded around by the ducks as I move around to the main 'duck table'. I frequently have to chase them out of the chook runs as they try to sneak in and steal the chook's grain.

Plumed Whistling Duck trying to sneak into the chook runs.

At about the same time that the Plumed Whistling Ducks appeared we were also joined by a lone Dusky Moorhen and a pair of Purple Swamphens.

Purple Swamphen on the bird feeder.

The former is very quiet and goes about his business without fuss, but the latter parade around the dam making all sorts of strange calls. To quote Pizzey & Knight again, their calls include 'high-pitched rasping screeches, nasal 'nerks', cooings and unusual liquid thuds'. I can attest to all these strange sounds but would add another sound that is similar to an over inflated football being kicked very hard whilst held still...well, it's very difficult to describe. Now, there's no doubt that it's the Purple Swamphens that are the masters of the dam as not only will they lord it about, but they will also lay into a family group of Plumed Whistling Ducks, causing them to scatter and come into contact with the other groups and so igniting another spasm of spirited whizzing whistling. Whoever said it was quiet in the country had obviously never visited our dam.

Since the storm, almost 6-months ago now, the vegetation has largely regrown, but former regular visitors are noticeably absent. The Brush Turkeys haven't been seen at all, and Sparky and the King Parrots have been irregular at best. On the other side of the coin we have been blessed with a lot of other birds, particularly smaller birds such as Cuckoos, Whistlers and Eastern Yellow Robins, who have appeared far more often than in the past'

March Birds

Regulars (Seen at least x5 per week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch
Dusky Moorhen
Galah
Grey Butcherbird

Grey Butcherbird

Magpie Lark
Noisy Miner
Pacific Black Duck
Pale-headed Rosella

Pale-headed Rosella

Peaceful Dove
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck
Purple Swamphen
Rainbow Lorikeet
Striated Pardalote
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow

Torresian Crows

Welcome Swallow
Wood Duck
Willy Wagtail

Willie Wagtail

Wood Duck

Common (Seen at least twice a week)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Honeyeater
Laughing Kookaburra
Noisy Friarbird
Rainbow Bee Eater
White-throated Gerygone

Uncommon (Seen 2-5 times a month)

Blue-faced Honeyeater
Cicadabird

Female Cicadabird in full song

Dollarbird
Eastern Whipbird
Eastern Yellow Robin
Figbird
Forest Kingfisher
Golden Whistler
Grey Shrike-thrush
Hardhead Duck
King Parrot
Leaden Flycatcher
Olive-backed Oriole
Red-backed Fairy Wren
Rufous Fantail
Rufous Whistler
Satin Flycatcher
Spangled Drongo
Spotted Turtle Dove
White-throated Honeyeater
White-throated Treecreeper
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (Seen only once in the month)

Brown Cuckoo Dove
Brown Goshawk
Lewins Honeyeater
Little Pied Cormorant
Masked Plover
Pacific Baza
Pied Butcherbird
Silvereye
Tree Martin
Variegated Fairy Wren
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-faced Heron

Which is 65-species!

And then of course there's the chooks and the day-to-day stuff...