Hi Marjorie -
At 14:32 24/06/1997 +1000, you wrote:
>According to Pizzey, Simpson and Day, and Slater, the G-S P only inhabits
>part of Cape York, nesting in termite mounds there. Therefore it shouldn't
>be in the Tablelands, should it? It's a long way south of the known territory.
Their normal range is confined to part of Cape York Peninsula, but GSPs also
exist in aviculture and it could well be an escaped bird. The closely
related Hooded Parrot occurs in the Top End of the Northern Territory.
>I was also informed by the same person that the nests of this bird are only
>to be found in the magnetically aligned termite nests on the Cape, and no
>other. Can anyone confirm or refute this? None of my books give that
>particular info re the type of termite nest.
>From info due to be published next year in HANZAB 4, a survey showed that
97% of GSP nests were conical termite mounds, less than 3% in magnetic or
meridianal mounds, and the remainder in other kinds of termite mounds. The
magnetic mounds are usually too narrow to be suitable nest sites. GSPs have
apparently never been known to nest in the wild in tree hollows, although
they may do so in captivity.
Cheers, Hugo.
Hugo Phillipps,
Birds Australia Conservation & Liaison,
Australian Bird Research Centre,
415 Riversdale Road,
Hawthorn East, VIC 3123, Australia.
Tel: +61 3 9882 2622. Fax: +61 3 9882 2677.
Email: <>
Web Homepage: http://www.vicnet.net.au/~birdsaus
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