On Mon, 26 Mar 2001, Alan Morris wrote:
> So on what basis the Scientific Committee (if reported correctly) can =
> accept the bird for NSW other than a vagrant and or escapee seems =
> strange to me.
The Orange-bellied Parrot is indeed listed as endangered under
Schedule 1 of the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act
The schedule is at: http://www.npws.nsw.gov.au/wildlife/TS160301.pdf
The act says: "animal means any animal-life that is indigenous to
New South Wales or is known to periodically or occasionally migrate to
New South Wales"
The "final determination" can be found at:
http://www.npws.nsw.gov.au/news/tscdets/f001215b.htm
A relevant excerpt is:
"A small number of sightings of Orange-bellied Parrot are known from New
South Wales. One specimen from Thredbo in 1917 now held at the CSIRO
collection in Canberra and two consecutive sightings near Nowra in 1986
indicate that the species? distribution extends into south-eastern New
South Wales. There is also a specimen in the Macleay Museum which is
thought to have been collected from Long Bay in Sydney last century"
The listing of the Orange-bellied Parrot seems very doubful to me -
there are other species known from a few NSW records which could equally
be listed e.g.: Fiordland Penguin, Corncrake and Upland Sandpiper.
Listing such vagrant species leads to the odd circumstance where a
species which is secure elsewhere can't be listed as endangered in NSW,
but 50 years after its last sighting but it can be listed as extinct
in NSW.
For example, I believe there is one NSW record for Yellow-headed Wagtail
from 1962 - it (quite reasonably) can't be listed as endangered - but
in 11 years time the Scientific Committee will be apparently willing to
list it as extinct in NSW.
An even more puzzling decision by the Scientifc Committee is the listing
of the Little Penguins at North head as an "endangered population".
I can't see how these penguins can be considered a population, either
biologically or under the meaning of the act.
The NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act itself is at:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/tsca1995323/
Andrew Taylor
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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