Storm Birds

With storms becoming more prevalent you may begin to notice or hear more about our storm birds. Two birds regularly called storm birds are the Common Koel, Eudynamys scolopacea - see separate article, and the Channel Billed Cuckoo, Scythrops novaehollandiae. Both these birds belong to the 'Old World (parasitic) Cuckoo' family - Cuculidae. DNA comparisons indicate that this family has no close living relatives in the bird kingdom. With some of their populations migrating to New Guinea and Northern Australia in winter, their arrival in the region for breeding in summer, heralds the beginning of our summer storms.

While not called a storm bird, White-throated Needletails, Hirundapus caudacutus, certainly precede the many summer storms that come from the west. They are the largest swifts found in Australia, and are a Northern Asian migrant that appears during our summer period. Generally seen over the Western side of the Dividing Range, they position themselves in front of advancing weather patterns, so as to catch the rising insects. Whilst in Australia they are said to rarely land and may spend most their time on the wing. Difficult as it may to contemplate continued flight, try count these birds, particularly when they take advantage of the build up of advancing cumulus clouds, it is easier to estimate the size of a flock in square kilometres or by the number of suburbs covered, rather than actual numbers.