Royal National Park

[Susan Knowles <>]

I would like to believe Sydney birdlife is not declining, but word of mouth and my own experience suggest otherwise.  Noisy Miners moved into my area about 30 years ago and since then almost all the small birds have disappeared.  I have scarcely seen a small honeyeater, pardalote or Fairy-wren in this time - even the Bul-buls and sparrows have moved.  (The Common Mynahs declined in numbers but recently seemed to have increased again.)  The only native species which may have increased in this time are the Rainbow Lorikeets , Crested Pigeons and Koels.

> Whether
> or not "Sydney's Royal National Park has around 279 species"
> has absolutely nil bearing on the suggestion (which I strongly suspect
> is an urban myth, based on nil evidence) that our birdlife is on the
> decline in Australia's largest city. (No doubt some species have
> declined, others increased, others constantly change up and down.)
> Number of species that have been recorded in an area is irrevelant to
> an assessment of change to population levels of many species. Anyway,
> where are the long-term detailed population studies of Sydney's birds?
> No-one at my 28-4-2001 talk to SNAG in Sydney, about COG's GBS said
> anything like "we have something like this in
> Sydney"!
> >

--
Susan Knowles