K2C surveys – Bredbo area
Note the change of date from Sunday 12 to Saturday 11 April.
COG will continue with the K2C surveys that have been running since April 2010 in the Michelago-Bredbo area. The surveyed properties have healthy populations of many of the rarer woodland birds such as Diamond Firetail, Hooded Robin and Speckled Warbler. We will be visiting the same sites to continue the monitoring and see if we can witness the autumn migrations. The surveys will be undertaken in ‘blitz’ fashion; that is, observers in small groups will visit a number of sites on one or more properties before regrouping for lunch and a sharing of the survey’s findings. Less experienced observers are welcome to join in the survey as each team will have at least one experienced observer. Anyone interested in participating is asked to contact Nicki Taws before Wednesday 8 April. Email: ntaws@bigpond.com with your name, mobile number, and the name and contact of an emergency contact.
Post event report
The autumn 2026 K2C bird surveys were held over several days due to limited volunteer availability. The main survey day was Saturday 11 April, a fine but windy morning during a long, dry and warm autumn spell. The sheltered sites generally yielded more birds; an interesting exception being the Ingelara woodland where, despite the strong wind, the dense metre-high regrowth afforded enough shelter for a lovely selection of woodland birds (including Hooded Robin, Speckled Warbler, Yellow and Buff-rumped Thornbills, and Diamond Firetail) to stay foraging down at ground level.
There was almost no movement of honeyeaters in the windy conditions; the usual suite of Yellow-faced, White-naped, White-eared, Fuscous, White-plumed and Brown-headed Honeyeaters were recorded but in low numbers. A group of 5 Noisy Friarbirds were seen moving northwards. Other lingering summer migrants included Rufous Whistler, Grey Fantail, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Dusky Woodswallow, and a couple of records of Fan-tailed Cuckoo.
Threatened species were in lower than usual numbers, the most prevalent being Scarlet Robin (5 properties) Dusky Woodswallow (5), Hooded Robin (3), Diamond Firetail (2), Brown Treecreeper (2), Southern Whiteface (2) and Flame Robin (1). This may have been partly due to the conditions during the survey or the fact that one of the reliable properties for these species was not surveyed.
Thanks again to the volunteers, the landholders for continued access, and Bush Heritage for the use of the facilities at Scottsdale for our post-survey lunch.
Nicki Taws