Dear Birding-Ausers,
There is a recent thread on Birding-Aus about Red-vented Bulbuls and
whether it is still possible to see them in Australia or whether they are
extinct here.
It was my understanding that there was considerable doubt whether they had
ever been introduced here. Again, I thought that records of Red-vented
Bulbuls were believed to have been misidentified Red-whiskered Bulbuls.
However, after some research in my references, I find it hard to tell.
Simpson and day and Slater illustrate the bird, suggesting it is now
extinct. Christidis and Boles have it on the reserve list as extinct. The
Atlas of Australian birds sugegsted it was introduced into Melbourne in
1917 and was last seen in 1947. On the ante side, neither Pizzey nor
Morcombe refer to it, nor does the Atlas of Victorian Birds.
Whether it was originally here or not, it seems unlikely any of us will see
it.
Regards
Chris
@lists.vicnet.net.au on 14/04/2003 06:26:17 PM
Sent by:
To:
cc:
Subject: Red vented BulBul
Hi there
I raised the question of the red-vented bulbul on birding-aus a year or so
ago and am eager to see one. You may find my notes in the birding-aus
archive and am interested in your ideas..
Nick Day has a small sketch of the red-vented bulbul in S and D field
guide.
It seems the red-vented was released along with red-whiskered bulbul as
part of the 'colonialisation' policy of the 19th century but it didn't
survive as well as the red-whiskered has.
The last record I could find was by a BOCA member near Melbourne in 1987.
Red-whiskered bulbuls haven't survived very well in Melbourne either [in
comparison with Sydney and south of that city] and occasionally turn up
along the Yarra, Kew, Banyule Flats and a few other places in the suburbs.
Here in the Dandenong Ranges there are at least two small populations, one
in FernTree Gully [reached up to 8 birds and breeding in 1999] and two or
three birds in The Basin.
The FernTree Gully birds wrestled for food [they seemed to like grapes]and
territory in the habitat of blackbirds, indian mynahs, red and brush
wattlebirds and song thrush.
On recent trips to Borneo, Malaysia and Java I saw many bulbuls but not one
red-whiskered. Someone suggested they had all been caught and caged because
their calls-singing was prized.
Cheers
Laurie Living
Mules, Michael wrote:
Message
As far as I'm aware (and I could well be wrong), Red-vented Bulbul is
extinct in Australia. Red-whiskered is all we have left.
Slater etal list it as probably extinct, and none of the subsequent
fieldguides (P&K, S&D, Morecombe) have an entry for it.
Mike
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
