First it was the Galahs. They arrived on the Mornington Peninsula
in southern Victoria at about the same time as I did, in 1964.
Then came the Crested Pigeons. They are now present in
considerable numbers, (flocks of over 60), in the southeastern Melbourne suburbs
and are spreading slowly southwards reaching Mt Martha last year. The Atlas
of Victorian Birds published in 1987 had no records of this species around
or south of Melbourne.
Now it’s the turn of Little Corella. Last week Sean Dooley of King
Penguin fame, found a flock in a horse paddock at Moorooduc. In that same
paddock on the south side of the Mornington-Tyabb Road, (Melways map 146 H6),
between 08.15 and 08.40 this morning (19 February 2001), I counted: --
110 Little
Corellas,
11 Crested Pigeons
and 70 Galahs.
They appeared to be feeding on grain put out for
horses. I presume humans did this, but I’m still counting them on my Peninsula
list!
Before 1950, Little Corellas were, at the best, very rare anywhere in
Victoria. There were no records for the Peninsula when Peggy Mitchell produced
her list in 1978 and none in the 1987 Victorian Atlas. More
recently, scattered reports east and southeast of Melbourne are usually of
small numbers accompanying Long-billed Corellas. Perhaps the three I saw at
Edithvale on 26 April 2000 were scouts for the current, unprecedented
invasion.
Mike Carter.
