Gilgunnia Glossies

Just a little further information re the Glossy Black-cockatoos that I heard at Gilgunnia (50 km north of Mt Hope) on the weekend. 

I suggested that if they were resident in the area (big if!) they may feed on Casuarina cristata or Belah.

I've just been reading Cambage (1901) who wrote and I quote- "From the Wirlong Copper Mine to Gilgunnia is about 20 miles in a general southerly direction, the formation consisting of alternate slate and porphyry hills......the following trees and shrubs were noticed: .....Casuarina cambagei, Casuarina quadrivalvis (on a sandy ridge)...."

Casuarina cambagei was an old name for Belah (Casuarina cristata) and Casuarina quadrivalvis was an old name for the Drooping She-oak (Allocasuarina verticillata). It's this A. verticillata that the glossies feed on in the Narrandera Hills and north of Rankins Springs. 

Thus, despite my failure to find this species on the weekend it is in the area and adds weight to the possibility that there may be an isolated population of glossies north of Mt Hope.

Its all very intriguing.

Cheers

Mick Todd

REFERENCE
Cambage, R.H. (1901) Notes on the Botany of the Interior of New South Wales, Part III. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., pp 199-212.


Michael Todd
Biodiversity Planning Officer
NSW NPWS
PO Box 1049
Griffith, NSW, 2680
Phone- 02 69668122

This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain
confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please
delete it and notify the sender. Views expressed in this message may be
those of the individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of the
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.