The Birds of North Head & AGM

Our meeting on Tuesday November 16 had something for everyone – an interesting guest speaker and our AGM.

 

 

Our guest speaker was Matthew Taylor from Bush Heritage Australia. He is the President of the North Head Sanctuary Foundation.

Matthew described himself as a general naturalist with a fondness for birds, the only creatures he can reliably identify - on a good day!  His Day Job is fundraising for Bush Heritage, a conservation organisation. He gave an interesting presentation on the Birds of North Head and provided a good insight on this natural habitat on our doorstep.

 

 

Whilst many of us had visited North Head and enjoyed the walks and scenery, Matthew explained the variety of bird habitats 

•       Heathland / Shrubland including Eastern Suburbs Banksia Shrub.

•       Open forest

•       Littoral rainforest

•       Beach/Harbour foreshore

•       Built environment / exotic plantings

•       Oceanic

We were treated to a great number of professional photos taken by various Bush heritage members and supporters. (Note that they are copyright images )

The most common bird ( approx. 50% of sightings) is the new holland honeyeater followed by the Brush wattlebird then the Red wattlebird. These top 3 are all honeyeaters – reflecting amount of nectar bearing plants like the banksia shown here that make up the scrub and heathlands.

Other birds that frequent the area:

The Aerialists

Such a diversity of habitats in a relatively small area results in an abundance of bird species that under normal circumstances would not be present and shouldn’t be there. Moreover, the North Head Ocean cliff and environ makes it a great navigation point for many aerialist species like Peregrine falcons, White- throated needletails and Brown Goshawks.

And some familiar ones

Female Koel

And

Matthew’s passion for birds also extended to being able to demonstrate a variety of bird calls which were most convincing. 

Club members thanked him most interesting and illuminating presentation.

PP Sue Terry presenting Matthew with a Certificate of Thanks

 

AGM:

The club officers and roles for 2022/23 are as follows:

President (for 2022/2023)             TBA 

President Elect (for 2022/23)        TBA                     

Secretary                                        Lindy Myers

Treasurer                                        Paul Apps

Club Services Director                   Tony Hill

Public Officer                                  Paul Apps

 

Teams:

Services Committee

·       Team Leader                                 Roger Gray

·       Youth Service                                Ian Grayburn & Robert Exner

·       International                                  Diana Hart & Alois Lechner

·       Foundation                                    John O’Brien

·       Community/Vocational                  Michael Mead/Graham Evans/Roger Gray                

·       Minister of Fun                              Sue Terry

Membership Committee

·       Team Leader                                  TBA

Fundraising Committee

·       Team Leader                                  Lindy Myers

Communications Committee

·       Team Leader                                 John O’Brien

·       Bally Barker Blog                          Michael Mead

·       Social Media                                 Rick van Brugge/Lindy Myers

                                                   

Congratulations to all who were elected.

 

The big wet:

Due to the weather being so bad during the week leading up to Sunday Nov 28 - the day of the Cars 'n Clues Road Rally, it was decided to postpone the event since part of the finish area was underwater. It was a great pity the committee had worked so hard, however the set up and plans are ready when it is held.

A final thought: