hi,
with regard to the caged bird/vagrant debate, my mum and I were lucky enough to
be with Joy at the first sighting of the Rosy Starling on the morning of Friday
3rd
September. The bird flew extremely well, towards the end of the sighting it
flew
very swiftly and extremely high in a wide arc away to the edge of the plain.
We
have seen several aviary escapees in our day, and they have always been poor
fliers. The bird also seemed to be in extremely good condition. There was
certainly
no evidence of frayed wing or tail tips.
It also seemed to be slimmer and lighter in build than birds depicted in the
few field
guides we have had access to, which matches with a long and arduous journey
(although this may just be an artefact of the particular guides we have looked
at).
as Rohan has said, it was a long way from town, and given the density and
diversity
of the raptors that we saw on our short visit to Broome, I doubt very much that
a
caged bird would make it out to Roebuck Plains Station.....
i think the sighting highlights the great work being done by the staff at the
Broome
Bird Observatory, and does credit to their outstanding commitment and expertise
regards
Carmel Flint
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