Bimblebox 153 Birds in need of writers:

Calling Poets, Writers, Scientists, Academics!   Bimblebox 153 Birds is calling for writers to contribute to this art project which describes the bird species that have been officially recorded at the Bimblebox Nature Refuge. We need a myriad of voices to tell us something about the following bird species that are currently wild and free avian residents or seasonal visitors to the Bimblebox Nature Refuge.

WHY? Because the Bimblebox Nature Refuge is under threat from massive coal mining projects both directly over and under the refuge plus all around it, throughout the Galilee Basin. This means that the myriad life that thrives on Bimblebox is under threat, including the birds.

Please send an Expression of Interest that includes:

• A biography
• An example of your writing or a link to something you have written.
• nominate the birds you are interesting in from the list below (list two or more in order of preference in case your first is already taken.  One bird will be allocated to you).
• Send to Jill at bimbleboxartproject@javitas.com.au

Add your voice to this project!

These are the birds currently available to Writers:

Now Claimed…Brown Quail, Coturnix ypsilophora.  Call: Double noted, ascending whistle: ‘pi-pieer’ or ‘tu-wieep’. Sharp chirp in alarm.

Now Claimed…Grey Teal, Anas gracilis.  Call: Male gives a sharp whistle with soft, low grunt and loud whistled ‘gedg-ee-oo’. Female has a loud, chuckled, descending series of quacks; also a slow, harsh, drawn out ‘que-aark’.

Now Claimed…Hardhead (White-eyed Duck), Aythya australis.  Call: Male soft wheezy whistle and ‘whirrr’; female a loud, harsh, rattled ‘gaak, gak, gakgakgak’.

Now Claimed…Australasian Grebe, Tachybaptus novaehollandiae.  Call: Rapid, sharp chittering; harsher versions in threat or agression.

Now Claimed…Australasian Darter, Anhinga novaehollandiae.  Call: Voice is a harsh, ‘kar, kar,ka, ka-ka-kakaka loud and slow, gradually more rapid, then fading. At nest, loud, brassy cacklings and clicking sounds.

Now Claimed…Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax varius.  Call: Usually silent, but various cacklings, loud ticking, deep gutteral grunting in breeding colonies.

Now Claimed…Little Black Cormorant, Phalacrocorax sulcirostris.  Call: Usually silent but some ticking and croaking among birds in fishing flocks; gutteral croaks and tickings at nest.

Now Claimed…White-necked (Pacific) Heron, Ardea pacifica.  Call: A loud single or double croak in alarm or flight: ‘argh, aarrgh’. At nest a deep loud ‘oomph!’ a raucous cackle at changeover.

Now Claimed…Glossy Ibis, Plegadis falcinellus.  Call: Call in flight is an occasional deep grunted croak; if startled gives loud hoarse croaks.

Now Claimed...Straw-necked Ibis, Treskiornis spinicollis.  Call: Loud croaks when itending to fly or alarmed and repeatedly on take off. When joining flock anounces arival with rapid series of croaks.

Now Claimed…Black-shouldered Kite, Elanus axillaris.  Call: A short plaintive piping ‘siep’ repeated regularly at intervals of about 5 seconds; a drawn out wheezy, husky or scraping ‘scrair’ at intervals of 5-10 seconds. Also a ‘chek-chek-chek’ contact call and a sharp ‘kik-kik-kik distress call given agressively when defending the nest.

Now Claimed…Whistling Kite, Haliastur sphenurus.  Call: ‘long descending ‘seeo’ followed by an upward staccato ‘si-si-si-si’. “one more rabbit and I’ll spew”

 Now Claimed…Spotted Harrier, Circus assimilis.  Call: Usually silent but said to utter short shrill squeal. Pizzey

 Now Claimed…Brown Goshawk, Accipiter fasciatus.  Call: Calls loudly in vicinity of nest, a high ‘keek-keek-keek’, rising in pitch. Also a rapid, excited, descending ‘kik-kik-ki-ki-kikik’, possibly in defence of nest site. At times uses a slow, drawn out ‘youwick, youwick’; female deeper than male.

Now Claimed…Collared Sparrowhawk, Accipiter cirrocephalus.  Call: a shrill, chattered ‘ki-ki-ki-ki’ and a slower, mellow ‘kwiek-kwiek-kwieek-’. Morecome

Now Claimed…Black Falcon, Falco subniger.  Call: Call like that of Peregrine, but deeper, slower, ‘gaak-gaar-gaak-’, becoming a more excited ‘gak-gak-gak-’ if an intruder is near the nest tree. In sudden alarm a single ‘gaaark!’. Also gives a call quite unlike other falcons in courtship and display flights – a loud, high, sharp, scratchy ‘eeikºeeikº’ every 3 to 5 sec. Morecombe

Now Claimed…Nankeen Kestrel, Falco cenchroides.  Call: The sharp, high, almost metallic ‘ki-ki-ki’ has many variations, territorial defence, displays, fighting, approaching nest with food: ranges from fast, shrill, chattered ‘kikikik-’ to slower ‘kee-kee-kee,’ and very slow, metallic, tapping ‘kik, kik, kik’. Also has a drawn out, screaming, rising ‘keeeiir, keeiir’ at food exchange and copulation. Morecombe

Now Claimed…Black-breasted Buzzard, Hamirostra melanosternon.  Call: Usually silent but quite vocal near nest. On return to nest excited yelping, ‘kyik-kyik-kyik; as alarm high long ‘screee’. Also a variety of harsh scratchy grating sounds.

Now Claimed…Little Button-quail, Turnix velox.  Call: Woop woop. Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Red-chested Button-quail, Turnix pyrrhothorax.  Call: A soft, quite high, booming ‘oom, oom’ at one second intervals; notes slightly slurred and rising through a sequence of 20–30 calls. Morecombe

Black-fronted Dotterel, Elseyornis melanops.  Call: Metallic pink; trilling calls. Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Masked Lapwing (Spur-winged Plover), Vanellus miles.  Call: Loud cackling Kerr-kick-ki-ki-ki; single kek. Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Crested Pigeon, Ocyphaps lophotes.  Call: Explosive whoop; low coo. Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Squatter Pigeon, Geophaps scripta.  Call: Rapid falling 3-5 notes; cooing chuckle; rising whoop. Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Peaceful Dove, Geopelia striata.  Call: Carrying 3 note woodle-oo; descending wooorr. Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Bar-shouldered Dove, Geopelia humeralis.  Call: Bob Hawke Bob Hawke (Maureen)

Now Claimed…Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus funereus.  Call: Wailing kee-aaah; staccato growl. Simpson and Day.

Now Claimed…Cockatiel, Nymphicus hollandicus.  Call: High far carrying rolling cweeree. Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Pale-headed Rosella, Platycerus adscitus.  Call: Call in flight is an abrupt ‘czik-czik-, czik-czik-’. From trees gives high but soft, thin and slightly tremulous ‘fee-e-fee-e-fe-e’ or ‘fwe-we-we-wee’ Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Pallid Cuckoo, Cacpmantis pallidus.  Call: Male utters the well-known ‘harbinger-of-spring’ call: upward scale of about eight whistled notes, the second note slightly below the first, the rising in a quarter-tone or cromatic scale; uttered persistently day and night. Pizzey

Now Claimed…Brush Cuckoo, Cacomantis variolosus.  Call: shrill far-carrying deliberate, usually descending phrase of about 7 or 8 notes, ‘fear-fear-fear…’ repeated shrill rising phrases ‘Where’s the tea Pete’ becoming demented.

 Black-eared Cuckoo, Chalcites osculans.  Calll: A quite descending mournful ‘peeeeeeer’, singly or repeated, livelier ‘pee-o-wit-pee-o-weer’ repeated. Pizzey

Now Claimed…Horsefield’s Bronze-cuckoo, Chalcites basalis.  Call: Single long descending ‘tseeeeuw’, ‘prrelll’ or ‘pir-r-r’, repeated persistently. Pizzey

Now Claimed…Southern Boobook, Ninox novaeseelandiae.  Call: Morepork Morepork (Maureen). Falsetto ‘yo-yo-yo-yo’; drawn out rising catlike ‘brrrwow’ and monotonously repeated low ‘mor-mor-mor’. Pizzey

Now Claimed…Barn Owl, Tyto javanica.  Call: Hoarse thin wavering reedy screech: ‘skee-air!’ Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Red-backed Kingfisher, Todiramphus pyrrhopygius.  Call: Repeated mournful whistle; harsh chatter. Simpson and Day.

Now Claimed…Sacred Kingfisher, Todiramphus sanctus.  Call: Loud repeated ‘kek-kek-kek’. Rising ‘kee-kee-kee’ duets near nest. Simpson and Day.

Now Claimed…Brown Treecreeper, Climacteris picumnus.  Call: Stacatto ‘spink spink’; harsh rattle; chuckling songs. Simpson and Day.

Now Claimed…Varigated Fairy-wren, Malurus lamberti.  Call: High metalic, squeaky and rather clockwork or mechanical rattling trill at fairly uniform pitch. Morcombe and Stewart.

Now Claimed…Weebill, Smicrornis brevirostris.  Call: Wheet-will’; ‘whit-a-whit’. Lower ‘tizit’. Simpson and Day.

Western Gerygone, Gerygone fusca.  Call: Sweet, rising, falling, fading. Simpson and Day.

Now Claimed…White-throated Gerygone, Gerygone albogularis.  Call: Distinctive falling, tinkling song. Simpson and Day.

Inland Thornbill, Acanthiza apicalis.  Call: Lively, sharp ‘tsip-chip-’; ‘loud clear musically whistled ‘chweeeip!’ and deep, mellow tremulously wharbled ‘quor-r-r-r-r-eip’. Morcombe and Stewart

Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Acanthiza uropygialis.  Call: High peevish squeaking: ‘tsee, tsee-tseep, tseep, tseeip’. Morcombe and Stewart

Buff-rumped Thornbill, Acanthiza reguloides.  Call: Tinkling reel. Simpson and Day.

Now Claimed…Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Acanthiza chrysorrhoa.  Call: Vivacious merry tinkling with cyclic pattern. Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Yellow Thornbill, Acanthiza nana.  Call: Persistent ‘tizz tizz’. Simpson and Day.

Now Claimed…Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Acanthagenys rufogularis.  Call: Liquid gurgling notes. ‘Give-the-boy-a-go’ repeated ending in a single abrupt note. Pizzey

Striped Honeyeater, Plectorthyncha lanceolata.  Call: Atractive mellow and rolling. ‘Free-wheat-peeler-peeler’ rising then falling. Pizzey

Now Claimed…Little Friarbird, Philemon citreogularis.  Call: Up here Maureen, up here Maureen (Maureen)

Now Claimed…Yellow-throated Miner, Manorina flavigula.  Call: Sharp nasal ‘kiek-kiek-kierk’, ‘kweek-kewk’ or ‘kieerk-kieerk’. Morcombe and Stewart

Now Claimed…Singing Honeyeater, Lichenostomus virescens.  Call: Scratchy peevish ‘scree scree’; dry ‘prrit prrit prrit’; alarm call, ‘crik-crikit-crikit-crickit’, accelerating into running almost machinegun-like note. Pizzey

White-eared Honeyeater, Lichenostomus leucotis.  Call: Jaring descending ‘chung-chung-chung’, mellow ‘beer-brick, beer-brick’. Pizzey.

 Grey-fronted Honeyeater, Lichenostomus plumulus.  Call: ‘It-wirt, wirt, wirt, wirt’; single sharp note ‘boink’ Pizzey.

Fuscous Honeyeater, Lichenostomus fuscus.  Call: Arig-arig-a-taw-taw’; ‘guinea-a-week’; deep metalic rather twanging ‘clitchit-clee-you, clitchit-clee-you’ repeated. Pizzey.

Now Claimed…White-plumed Honeyeater, Lichenostomus penicillatus.  Call: Brisk ‘chickowee’ or ‘chickabiddey’; alarm call a rapid high-pitched strident trill like alarm-clock. Pizzey

 Black-chinned Honeyeater, Melithreptus gularis.  Call: Curious high-pitched grating, croaking notes, developed into song. Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Brown Honeyeater, Lichmera indistincta.  Call: Song remarkably strong sweet and varied ‘sweet-sweet-quarty-quarty’.Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Jacky Winter, Microeca fascinans.  Call:  Peter Peter

Now Claimed…Hooded Robin, Melanodryos cucullata.  Call: YAP-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap’, yaps becoming shorter. Pizzey.

Varied Sittella, Daphoenositta chryspotera.  Call: Song described as ‘tzir, zit-zit, tzir-zit-zat-zit’ Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Golden Whistler, Pachycephala pectoralis.  Call: Rising ‘wheat-wheat-wheat-WHITTLE!’ a brisk ‘dee-dee-dee-ah-WHIT!’ Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Rufous Whistler, Pachycephala rufiventris.  Call: Joey joey joey (Maureen)

Now Claimed…Grey Shrike-thrush, Colluricincla harmonica.  Call: pip-pip-pip-pip-ho-ee

Now Claimed…Leaden Flycatcher, Myiagra rubecula.  Call: Deep, slightly harsh, guttural ‘zhirrp’; also strident , farcarying ‘see-hear, see-hear, see-hear’. Pizzey

Now Claimed…Restless Flycatcher, Myiagra inquieta.  Call: A rasping ‘zhap-zhapzhapzhapzhap; a curious sustained grinding churring; a clear repeated whistle each phrase rising at the end like a man whistling a dog. Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Magpie-Lark, Grallina cyanoleuca.  Call: Pairs perform wing lifting duets- antiphonal song. ‘Tee-hee, pee-o-wee, pee-o-wit’. Pizzey, Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Grey Fantail, Rhipidura albiscapa.  Call: Cyclic tinkling song, ending with a strong high note. Warning ‘dik!’. Simpson and Day

Now Claimed…Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Coracina novaehollandiae.  Call: Unusual musical rolling purring or churring note. Pizzey

 White-bellied (Little) Cuckoo-shrike, Coracina papuensis.  Call: Typical call is a peevish ‘kissik, kissik’ or quizeek’ Pizzey

 Now Claimed…Ground Cuckoo-shrike, Coracina maxima.  Call: Far-carrying ‘pee-ew, pee-ew’; also chill-chill….kee-lick, kee-lick’. Pizzey

Now Claimed…White-winged Triller, Lalage sueurii.  Call: Slightly descending ‘chiff-chiff-chiff-joey-joey-joey’ or ‘deet-deet-deet-dip-dip-dip-dip-drrr’ ending in a canary-like trill. Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Olive-backed Oriole, Oriolus sagittatus.  Call: orry orry-ole olly ole (Maureen)

Now Claimed...Figbird, Sphecotheres vieilloti.  Call: Short sharp yelps ‘pow! pow! pow!. Many soft musical calls. Simpson and Day

White-breasted Woodswallow, Artamus leucorynchus.  Call: Brisk ‘pirt, pirt’ somwhat like toy-trumpet. Pizzey

Masked Woodswallow, Artamus personatus.  Call: Musical ‘chap, chap’; also sweet miner-like notes. Pizzey

Black-faced Woodswallow, Artamus cinereus.  Call: Not loud; sweet notes, scratchy ‘chiff, chiff or ‘chap, chap’. Pizzey

Now Claimed…Little Woodswallow, Artamus minor.  Call: A brisk ‘peet, peet’; may be uttered as a series of three or four evenly spaced notes or as a single note followed by two quick notes; more rarely as four high pitched notes. Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Grey Butcherbird, Cracticus torquatus.  Call: Deep beautiful mellow piping; in aggression a staccato rollicking descending shreik. Pizzey

Now Claimed…Torresian Crow, Corvus orru.  Call: High pitched series of stacatto honkings, can finnish with one or more longer notes. Loud falsetto stutter. Simpson and Day.

Now Claimed…Spotted Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus maculatus.  Call: Loud chirring grating hissing or throat-clearing noises. Pizzey

Now Claimed…Singing Bushlark (Horsfield’s), Mirafra javanica.  Call: Sweet clear if spasmodic song; notes alternately shrill and trilling or rich and melodious. Pizzey.

Now Claimed…Australasian (Richard’s) Pipit, Anthus novaeseelandiae.  Call: Brisk splintered ‘pith’ or rasping drawn-out ‘zwee’. Pizzey.

 Now Claimed…Plum-headed Finch, Neochmia modesta.  Call: Reported to be a single ‘tlip’ or ‘tleep’; at times drawn-out and high-pitched, scarcely audible. Pizzey.

Tree Martin, Petrochelidon nigricans.  Call: Dry little ‘drrrt drrrt’ and animated twittering song. Pizzey.

Fairy Martin, Petrochelidon ariel.  Call: Distinctive chirrup; also sweet twittering.Simpson and Day.

Rufous Songlark, Cincloramphus mathewsi.  Call: Song has a sweet, splintered, almost ventriloquial quality; often begins with a clear loud trill, then develops into full refrain, ‘a-witchy-weedle’, repeated. Pizzey.

Brown Songlark, Cincloramphus cruralis.  Call: Strange, metalic, gutteral and far-carrying; hence school childrens’ name ‘skit-scot-a-wheeler’. Pizzey

Further details:

For  Bimblebox 153 Birds the completed written piece would be less than 200 words and you would also be asked to submit an audio of you reading or reciting your piece.

Bimblebox 153 Birds project description.

For a full list of bird species currently identified at the Bimblebox Nature Refuge.

List of Artists who have already sent in their artwork

List of Writers who have already sent in their written piece

Musicians on 153 birds – You can find the musicians and their recordings on Alison Clouston and Boyd’s website here.

Writers, I look forward to hearing from you!

Jill Sampson

bimbleboxartproject@javitas.com.au