Dear Tim and all
Bulbuls seem to have died out in the City of Bayside although
they were recorded in the suburbs of Sandringham and nearby
Black Rock.
The earliest "record" comes from the Bird Observer Nature Notes
of September 1948 where Roy Wheeler said "Of recent years I have
seen the Bulbul in Toorak, South Yarra and
Sandringham"
23 of the Bayside records come from the George St/Spring St
(where the Swift Parrots were last October). The remainder are
from within 2.5 km of there. There were up to 4 birds and a
nest with eggs was known. The story is a bit confused but ants
invaded the nest after an egg was broken and the nest was
deserted.
With more intensive watching there were records of single
Bulbuls in that area on 22 dates distributed fairly evenly
between July 1993 and May 1996. Since one very competent
observer was walking the area once or twice a day, interested
residents were looking out for them, and other birdos visited at
least weekly the "detection rate" seems to have been about once
in 100 visits.
Best of luck. But hang on for a few years - with global
warming, elimination of competitors, increases in weeds with
berries etc. they may become much easier to find.
Michael Norris
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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