Natalia,
I remind dog walkers I see in Bluegum Creek Reserve in Chatswood
Sydney of the signs banning dogs. I guess you can imagine the frosty
responses I get. Some walk with iPod earphones so I am not sure why
they dont just stick to the suburban footpaths for all the awareness
of the the environment they are passing through.
But apart from the study aired recently in the papers & on Birding-
Aus about depressed sightings associated with dog transits I dont
have any evidence of actual deaths caused by dogs.
Have you witnessed the attacks?
On a lighter note I often cross a park in the morning on the way to
work in North Sydney. One morning I was walking about 50m behind a
girl in a bright floral dress. The resident magpie was working the
grassed area followed by its noisy begging juvenile. The juvenile was
near the path but quickly ran away to cower beside its parent when
the girl walked towards it. However when I approached in my black
sports coat & white shirt it rushed to my feet & begged madly.
This area is also a popular off-leash dog area although the dog
owners seem to be remarkably caring & controlling of their dogs
behaviour & I have seen no evidence of injury to the young magpies.
Chris Charles
0412 911 184
33deg 47'30"S
151deg10'09"E
On 21/10/2007, at 8:46 PM, Natalia Atkins wrote:
Dear group,
I live in Brisbane, in an eastern suburb called Morningside, which
technically is an urban area, but also has a council forest a few
acres in
size, as well as a large cemetery, together which provide a wonderful
habitat for a large range of local birdlife.
This week has been a very disappointing week in the Morningside
Cemetery. I
have been watching a local magpie pair nest for the past two
months, and
about three weeks ago the babies left the nest. In this short time,
the
entire brood of 4 babies have been savaged by dogs. In fact just
yesterday,
i was photographing the last remaining baby, and today I found it
dead, just
like the other three. It really got to me, because surely baby magpies
shouldn't naturally die at such an alarming rate, only few weeks after
leaving the nest?
These are some of the photos I took yesterday arvo, and the final
one is
the baby magpie carcass I found this morning:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y186/OzHomeARt/live-baby1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y186/OzHomeARt/live-baby2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y186/OzHomeARt/live-baby3.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y186/OzHomeARt/dead-baby.jpg
I think the main problem is that Morningside cemetery has a become a
favorite spot for dog owners who wish to illegally allow their dogs
to run
unleashed around the area. There are signs around the cemetery
which clearly
state the law and the fines involved for allowing dogs to run free
around
the cemetery, and there are also signs which tell dog owners the
specific
times where the dogs are not allowed to be there, which is most of
the day
after 7.30am.
But most dog owners seem to totally ignore the law, and I see many
large
dogs allowed to run free through the cemetery throughout the day.
There a dead baby minors literally strewn everywhere, and dead baby
magpies
on all the dog walking paths. The Magpie family I had been watching
had 4
babies this year, and within the last 3 weeks, all of them have
been savaged
and killed by dogs who were not on leashes.
I was so disappointed by these deaths that I wrote to the local
newspaper
and described the problem to them, in hope that they could inform
dog owners
of the extreme vulnerable state of baby magpies at this time of year.
I was wondering if anyone on the list has experienced this kind of
problem
or has any positive suggestions for tackling this kind of problem?
Thankyou!
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