Duncan McCaskill: Garden Bird List after 10 years

I have just completed 10 years of recording birds around my suburban home for the Canberra Garden Bird Survey. For the Garden Bird Survey (GBS), participants survey a site of about 3 hectares around or near their home. The survey is continuous, and recorded in weeks. My site extends beyond my garden to include a stretch of nearby Ginninderra Creek, so I get a lot of water birds.

Update 31/12/19:

The list is now at 144 species. I finally had a Satin Bowerbird (now widespread in Canberra gardens) and a New Holland Honeyeater (common in some places in Canberra, surprisingly rare in others).

Update 21/11/19:

The list is now at 142 species. The latest is Intermediate Egret.

Update 21/10/19:

The list is now at 141 species thanks to very dry conditions inland. I have recently ticked Rufous Songlark, White-winged Triller and Red-capped Robin - all species that move east and south when conditions get bad further west.

Canberra is a good city for birds, and my place is particularly good being on a river corridor. I get water birds as well as a good range of bush birds because the river corridor is vegetated and connects larger areas of habitat.

The table below lists all the species, along with the reporting rate (R). The reporting rate is the percentage of the weekly records which the species was recorded. I have surveyed the site on 432 of the 520 weeks in the last 10 years. The reporting rate for a species observed just once is 1/432 or 0.231%.

Species	R (%weeks recorded)
Phasianidae — Pheasants and allies
Brown Quail	1.2
Anatidae — Ducks, Geese and Swans
Black Swan	13.2
Australian Wood Duck	25.0
Grey Teal	34.5
Mallard (Domestic type)	6.0
Pacific Black Duck	89.8
Hardhead	1.2
Podicipedidae — Grebes
Australasian Grebe	2.8
Hoary-headed Grebe	0.5
Columbidae — Pigeons, Doves
Rock Dove	3.5
Spotted Dove	20.1
Crested Pigeon	91.2
Apodidae — Swifts
White-throated Needletail	0.5
Fork-tailed Swift	0.2
Anhingidae — Anhingas, Darters
Australasian Darter	5.3
Phalacrocoracidae — Cormorants,Shags
Little Pied Cormorant	76.8
Great Cormorant	23.6
Little Black Cormorant	49.3
Pied Cormorant	0.2
Pelecanidae — Pelicans
Australian Pelican	12.7
Ardeidae — Herons, Bitterns
Australasian Bittern	0.2	The first ACT record since the 1940s.
Australian Little Bittern	0.2
White-necked Heron	2.3
Eastern Great Egret	52.1
Cattle Egret	0.9
White-faced Heron	83.3
Nankeen Night-Heron	28.0
Threskiornithidae — Ibises, Spoonbills
Australian White Ibis	52.3
Straw-necked Ibis	12.3
Royal Spoonbill	2.3
Yellow-billed Spoonbill	0.5
Accipitridae — Kites, Hawks and Eagles
Eastern Osprey	0.2	The first record of an Osprey in the ACT.
Black-shouldered Kite	21.8
Whistling Kite	0.9
Brown Goshawk	4.6
Collared Sparrowhawk	19.2
Grey Goshawk	0.9
Spotted Harrier	1.2
Wedge-tailed Eagle	7.9
Little Eagle	0.9
Falconidae — Falcons
Nankeen Kestrel	5.1
Brown Falcon	0.7
Australian Hobby	7.6
Peregrine Falcon	0.2
Rallidae — Rails, Crakes and Coots
Purple Swamphen	66.7
Lewin's Rail	1.4	I have yet to see one anywhere. I have only heard them.
Buff-banded Rail	1.2
Spotless Crake	0.5
Dusky Moorhen	81.0
Eurasian Coot	32.4
Charadriidae — Plovers
Masked Lapwing	21.3
Scolopacidae — Sandpipers, Snipes
Latham's Snipe	20.4
Laridae — Gulls, Terns and Skimmers
Silver Gull	0.9
Cacatuidae — Cockatoos
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo	15.7
Gang-gang Cockatoo	0.9
Galah	78.2
Little Corella	24.3
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo	78.2
Cockatiel	0.2	Aviary escapee
Psittaculidae — Parrots
Rainbow Lorikeet	10.9
Australian King-Parrot	21.8
Superb Parrot	4.9
Crimson Rosella	83.1
Eastern Rosella	18.1
Red-rumped Parrot	68.3
Budgerigar	0.2	Aviary escapee
Cuculidae — Cuckoos
Eastern Koel	9.5
Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo	1.6
Shining Bronze-Cuckoo	0.7
Pallid Cuckoo	0.2
Fan-tailed Cuckoo	0.2
Brush Cuckoo	0.2
Strigidae — Typical Owls
Southern Boobook	0.9
Tytonidae — Barn Owls
Eastern Barn Owl	0.2
Alcedinidae — Kingfishers
Azure Kingfisher	0.2
Halcyonidae — Tree Kingfishers
Laughing Kookaburra	17.8
Sacred Kingfisher	2.8
Meropidae — Bee-eaters
Rainbow Bee-eater	0.2
Coraciidae — Rollers
Dollarbird	5.6
Maluridae — Australasian Wrens
Superb Fairy-wren	95.6
Acanthizidae — Australasian Warblers
White-browed Scrubwren	46.8
Weebill	94.4
White-throated Gerygone	0.9
Striated Thornbill	11.8
Yellow Thornbill	25.5
Yellow-rumped Thornbill	60.6
Buff-rumped Thornbill	3.5
Brown Thornbill	29.9
Pardalotidae — Pardalotes
Spotted Pardalote	28.0
Striated Pardalote	41.9
Meliphagidae — Honeyeaters
Eastern Spinebill	27.3
Yellow-faced Honeyeater	53.9
White-eared Honeyeater	1.4
Yellow-tufted Honeyeater	2.1
Fuscous Honeyeater	1.4
White-plumed Honeyeater	47.5
Noisy Miner	0.2
Red Wattlebird	97.0
Scarlet Honeyeater	0.2
Brown-headed Honeyeater	2.3
White-naped Honeyeater	4.6
Noisy Friarbird	5.1
Campephagidae — Cuckooshrikes
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike	33.3
Monarchidae — Monarch flycatchers
Golden Whistler	30.8
Rufous Whistler	9.7
Grey Shrike-thrush	10.9
Oriolidae — Figbirds, Orioles
Olive-backed Oriole	4.4
Artamidae — Woodswallows,Butcherbirds
Dusky Woodswallow	3.9
Grey Butcherbird	5.1
Australian Magpie	99.3
Pied Currawong	78.0
Grey Currawong	0.5
Rhipiduridae — Fantails
Grey Fantail	66.7
Willie Wagtail	41.7
Corvidae — Crows, Jays
Australian Raven	82.4
Little Raven	0.7
Monarchidae — Monarch flycatchers
Leaden Flycatcher	0.7
Restless Flycatcher	0.2
Magpie-lark	89.3
Corcoracidae — Australian Mudnesters
White-winged Chough	6.0
Petroicidae — Australasian Robins
Scarlet Robin	3.5
Flame Robin	0.5
Rose Robin	0.2
Cisticolidae — Cisticolas and allies
Golden-headed Cisticola	4.2
Acrocephalidae — Reed Warblers and allies
Australian Reed-Warbler	50.0
Megaluridae — Grassbirds and allies
Little Grassbird	4.6
Timaliidae — White-eyes, Old World Babblers
Silvereye	83.1
Hirundinidae — Swallows, Martins
Welcome Swallow	68.1
Fairy Martin	0.7
Tree Martin	2.1
Turdidae — Thrushes
Common Blackbird	85.9
Sturnidae — Starlings
Common Starling	69.0
Common Myna	62.0
Dicaeidae — Flowerpeckers
Mistletoebird	1.2
Estrildidae — Estralid Finches
Double-barred Finch	8.1
Red-browed Finch	84.3
Passeridae — Old World Sparrows
House Sparrow	72.9
Fringillidae — True Finches
European Goldfinch	13.4

Some pictures of a few species

Some very common species

Australian Magpie

Superb Fairy-wren (male in breeding plumage)

An Australian Raven doing a spot of fishing.

Some site specialities

A Little Pied Cormorant - very common on the creek

White-faced Heron. The most common heron. Nearly always around.

Nankeen Night-Heron. Sometimes I see one every day, other times they seem to disappear for months.

Black-shouldered Kite. These come and go. Sometimes I see one or two every day, some years I don't see them at all. They are an irruptive species, their numbers booming when there are a lot of mice around.

A few rarities

A Pied Cormorant. Seen just once in 2012.

Australasian Bittern. Seen once in 2014. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me when I first saw it. I had an excellent unobscured view then. This was the best I could manage when it was located again over the road the next day. Australasian Bitterns are rare, shy and secretive.