COUNCIL STICKY BEAK AT IBIS EXPLOSION
Catriona Mathewson
Courier Mail (p5, 17-04-2001)
BRISBANE City Council is expected to launch an assault on the ibis in
an
attempt to stop the scavenging bird multiplying out of control in the
city
centre. A council-commissioned report into ibis problems at the Botanic
Gardens
found about 100 birds were living and breeding in the park and
recommended
action be taken to evict them because of potential health problems.
The ibis is a recognised carrier of Newcastle disease, Asian flu and
salmonella.
"Having a breeding colony in the middle of the city is a potential
problem,"
the report's author Darryl Jones warned.
Although the ibis is a protected species, the birds have become an
increasing
nuisance in Brisbane, with South Bank recently enlisting the help of
Queensland
Parks and Wildlife officers to control birds, which harass diners for
food
scraps and foul the gardens.
Ibis and their pungent droppings are also rife in the Botanic Gardens
and they
have quickly taken up residence in the recently opened Roma Street
Parkland.
Dr Jones, who works in Griffith University's Suburban Wildlife Research
Group ,
said council needed to move the birds out of the city by tearing down
nests and
stopping them roosting at night.
"There's only one place where they're breeding in Brisbane and that's
the City
Botanic Gardens," Dr Jones said.
Officers would need to be particularly vigilant when breeding season
started in
about two months.
Council also needed to restrict the birds' access to food scraps. To
some
extent this had been achieved by removal of open bins from the park.
Dr Jones also advocated a public education campaign to tell residents
and
tourists not to feed the ibis.
The birds had been in Brisbane for about 10 years but had begun
breeding
rapidly in the past five years.
They were once confined to inland wetland areas but moved east during a
period
of drought in the mid-90s, adapting rapidly to city life and becoming a
major
pest on the Gold Coast.
Dr Jones warned attempts to force the colony out of the gardens in
Brisbane
could backfire if the birds moved to the new Roma Street Parkland which,
with a
large man-made wetlands area, provided an ideal environment.
TIME TO CLIP CORELLA WINGS
KEITH MCDONALD
The West Australian (p9, 16-04-2001)
THE annual count of corellas in the metropolitan area shows they have
not yet
grown out of control.
Birds Australia (WA) says there are about 1100 little corellas (Cacatua
sanguinea) and between 430 and 655 eastern long bills (C. tenuirostris).
There
are no western corellas.
While the number of little corellas is slightly down, there are between
200 and
300 more easterns this time - and that is the species causing the
greatest
concern.
As reported two weeks ago (eureka!, April 2), the Department of
Conservation
and Land Management wants to control numbers because of the damage the
aggressive birds can do to ovals and trees, and the way they are
displacing
other native species.
CALM will ask Environment Minister Judy Edwards to authorise a program
of
trapping, netting, shooting and public education.
John Blyth, of Birds Australia, said the survey on April 7 showed there
was a
significant number of both species and it was not too late to take
action
against the bird.
"Our data is spotty because we can't cover the whole of the
metropolitan area,"
Mr Blyth said. "But our figures over the last three years haven't
changed very
much. If that's the case, although they are pretty well established and
breeding, we haven't missed the boat in terms of control."
He said it was dangerous to assume there was no problem.
"People said that about the rainbow lorikeets because numbers didn't
build up
for a time," he said. "All of a sudden though, numbers will start
doubling
regularly. There's no reason why they can't do that around Perth. The
western is
already doing that in the Wheatbelt."
The biggest concentration of easterns was in Canning River Regional
Park, where
a flock of 350 was counted.
Two hundred were seen in the morning at Fremantle but when the official
count
took place in the afternoon, only 50 remained. Mr Blyth said it was
possible the
others had flown the 12km to Canning River Regional Park but he
suspected they
had not, and had not figured in the count.
For this reason, he believed numbers of that species were closer to the
higher
figure of 655.
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