This is the fourth in an ongoing series that highlights the riches of Pigeon Valley, the urban nature reserve in the heart of Glenwood. The focus of this article will be on The Green Twinspot.
I have had some luck in people asking me questions which are immediately fulfilled. Once a visitor to Pigeon Valley asked me if we ever had a Blue-mantled Crested-Flycatcher. I said, ‘Not in years, I am afraid.’ Within ten minutes I was watching a confiding Blue-mantled on the main track. On a bird walk, someone asked, ‘When did you last see a Crowned Eagle here?’ At that point a juvenile Crowned Eagle burst up from a clearing, like a Boeing over our heads. And, many years ago, some bird watchers said to me, ‘Have you ever seen Green Twinspots here?’ ‘No, though I have heard they are in the area.’ As we talked they pointed upwards at movement on a high branch and said, ‘There they are!’
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Since then I must have seen Green Twinspots many hundreds of times. Some people say they cannot find them in Pigeon Valley; what helps me is knowing their spark-like contact call well. They are very beautiful; the male has a bright red face and the female a peach colour. They are also very small. One of their difficulties is in reaching grass seed that is perhaps 10cm high; they have to launch themselves up in a hop, unless they can find a fallen branch that provides a perch while they feast on the seed.
When disturbed, they fly up to a high point. They also flit around the reserve fast; for the first time this month we were able to see two separate pairs, so it is likely that they are breeding in the area; possibly the numbers are increasing. There seem to be more open patches in the bush where the grass-bearing grasses are thriving, sustaining a good population of birds like Common and Grey Waxbills, Bronze and Red-backed Mannikins, and more recently, Red-billed Firefinches.
Crispin Hemson chairs the Friends of Pigeon Valley, a group that undertakes clearing of alien plants, keeps records of bird and mammal sightings and alerting management to any problems.
The Friends have a monthly walk at 7.30am on the second Saturday of each month. Email: friendsofpigeonvalley1@gmail.com.
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