Smaller bird species in decline in the south-west Hunter: the lessons of ten years of atlas data

Doyles Creek and Martindale to the west of Jerrys Plains support a wide variety of bird species including birds which are Vulnerable and at the edge of their distribution in the Hunter Region. While the first ten years of atlassing data for 4 sites in this area by no means reveal a bleak picture overall, some smaller species, such as fairy-wrens and grass finches have been in sharp decline at some sites. A major factor that must here be considered is the depth of the 2006 drought, though declines are not even across all sites and other factors must also be involved, some more local. Fortunately the typical woodland bird species may be more resilient; for instance the Diamond Firetail Stagonopleura guttata is now the most regularly recorded finch at these sites. The repeated surveys also reflect some of the changes that have been affecting the Hunter more generally, including the spread of species like the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Acanthagenys rufogularis ffom the west. While many of the trends were intuitively appreciated during the study, the analysis often years of data involved in preparing this paper reinforced my impressions in some cases, and drew my attention to other important facts that had previously not been noticed at all. I append information concerning increases and decreases in reporting rates at two Doyles Creek sites.