Just got back from a day banding at Weddin Mountains and reading through
this thread I have a couple of points to make.
When I started birdwatching in the 80s in Wollongong I was always told that
the Illawarra Region had the second highest diversity of species in
Australia after the Wet Tropics around Cairns/Atherton. The Hunter is also a
good candidate. But surely the bigger the area, and particularly the
diversity of habitats available, the number of species likely to occur is
going to increase. The Hunter has a high count because it has a large area
and a greater diversity of habitats including ocean, large estuaries,
woodlands, rainforest and urban areas. Rarities probably get recorded
regularly here as there is a large population of active bird watchers
looking at the types of habitats where rarities are likely to occur
(specifically waders and ducks).
Secondly why do people always compare locations to Kakadu NP? Is the
percedption from the public that Kakdu has the highest diversity of birds in
Australia. From experience I would have said that birding around Cairns it
is far quicker to get a large tally of species than in Kakadu. Any National
Park that has a diversity of habitats, particularly wetlands will have a
large species. Willandra and Kinchega NPs in western NSW are both reserves
that have large lists (150+ as far as I can remember) but no one compares
there local area to them. Even David Attenborough has said this, as I know
there was a quote from him somewhere calling the Wollongong area "the Kakadu
of the south" because of its high diversity in a small area. Methinks it is
a bit like a unit of measure of water (the sydharb or Sydney Harbours) that
the media uses to put something into scale - people think Kakadu is diverse,
so if an area has more species than it then it must be good.
My two ccents worth.
Cheers,
Peter
P.S. The Gluepot bird immediately looked like a Brown Songlark to me
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