We have been treated with a family of Banded Rail appearing from the council drain across the road. I have only seen 3 together, but neighbours report seeing 2 adults and four juveniles about three weeks ago.
They are very timid and so hard to get photos of.
We are at Wallalong NSW, does anyone know if this is their normal range ?
Cheers,
Geoff
Good ones, gphe. And it's nice to know that you have neighbours who seem to be interested in birds.
Yes, Wallalong is normal for the buff-banded rail. The species can be found across NSW where there is suitable habitat. And the council drain seems to be just that. I assume there's good quality native vegetation in the drain that supports this buff-banded rail family.
Good on you getting the photos, hard when you get so close and then off they fly. I have not seen a rail before.
Diane
persistence pays off, you have got some nice shots of a interesting looking bird .... i have seen them in the Sydney Botanic gardens
Not only are they timid, they can also run fast. Well done getting some nice photos.
M-L
You are right Araminta - they certainly can run VERY fast - but I did see one resort to flying. I've found that they are less concerned about cars that people, so those photos were taken from my car parked int he driveway.
Cheers,
Geoff
Woko, yes we have a coupl eof interested neighbours - but unfortunatley an uninteresed Council. Where the rails live is actually a big clay hole that the Council calls a flood retention basin. We have been battling the Council for years to let some decent vegetation grow, but so far we have only succeeded in saving a narrow strip of reeds
but that seems to be enough for the rails to move in. They cross the road and forage in our gardens which is very nice.
Cheers,
Geoff
The flood retention basin seems to be the sort of ecological restoration project the Phantom Revegetator would be interested in getting her/his teeth into. You're off to a great start with protecting the reed strip as the buff banded rails would probably agree. Perhaps the Phantom Wildlife Protector would be keen to erect some road signs warning motorists of the presence of crossing buff-banded rails. No doubt such endeavours would be supported by your council's environmental officer.
The habitat provided by local gardens is a clear indication that we can all contribute to bird & other wildlife protection. Extremely well done!
We actually had revegetated very well as the council did nothing to the basin for about 6 years. We had some nice 5m tall eucalypts and melalucas growning very well until council decided that they should mow the lot. Unfortunately our environmental officer is over ruled by the engineers. We have a developer dominated council and the" flatten it and build on" it mentality flows down through the works department.
I was fortunate in the last heavy rain to show photos that the vegetation that had been recently mowed had actually blocked the exit pipes. Strangely the work supervisor has chosen not to respond to my "I told you so" photos.
My next plan is to write an article for the local paper praising the council's environmental credentials and how their efforts have provided habitat for the rails - hopefully that might back council into a bit of a corner where they have to leave what vegetation there is. I note with pleasure that the mower man forgot to lock the gate - so perhaps in the cooler weather some more trees might just appear
Nice one! Yes, they're rather sneaky. We used to see them a lot on our farm when I was a kid. There's a couple with kids that live in someone's backyard nearby my current place, but I rarely see them - just the odd glimpse now and again.
How frustrating & painstaking it is dealing with councils who are of the environmentally unenlightened ilk, gphe. It's really important to commend any of council's appropriate environmental behaviour. This pressures council into the role of an environmentally responsible organisation so I really like your idea of writing an article praising council's environmental credentials.
Publication in the local press of some before & after photos of the work of the Phantom Revegetators & the dreaded council engineers would have perhaps been useful but I guess that horse has long bolted.
Often it's two steps forward, one back when working with develpment-oriented councils so patience is the watchword. The Phantom Revegetators must not be denied.
Thanks for the idea of before and after photos of the Phantom Revegetator's work
Best I could do would be to keep my eye out for the council's next mowing event and hope I can get a follow up of the blocked drain. The biggest challenge though is to get the local paper to oublish anything negative about the council.
On some Barrier Reef Islands the BBR's are as tame as domestic pigeons and wander about exposed in broad daylight and take food out of people's hands.
gphe, if a photo of the blocked drain could be published next to a photo of a revegetated area it might provide a great contrast staring all readers in the face.
Great shots, I only saw my first Rail a couple of months ago here in WA and he was off in shot , very timid indeed
Dont take life too seriously, it never ends well