Re: RE: [Birding-Aus] White Ibis studies in Sydney Region

["Greg & Val Clancy" <>]

The ibis situation is certainly a complicated one.  If the urban birds were 
permanent residents and their population was becoming excessive then it 
would be justified to reduce it to a sustainable level.  But, as has been 
pointed out by Ursula Munro, we should be looking at the ibis population on 
a continental scale to determine if the population is increasing, is stable 
or is declining.  A few worrying facts:
Straw-necked Ibis have bred in the past few years at Lawrence, near Maclean, 
north coast NSW for the first time in living memory - presumably due to the 
lack of water in the Murray-Darling system;
an important colony site was destroyed in the Gingham Watercourse last year 
by the landowner clearing the vegetation "under licence".  This matter is 
still being investigated;
White Ibis now occur as breeding birds in areas, such as Sydney, where they 
were historically only non-breeding visitors.

Greg Clancy