As to whether the painted finches at Jerilderie are wild or escapees, I would
make the following
observations on the unprecedented movement of birds through the Riverina,
caused by drought over
the last eight years. We have had huge influxes of pied honeyeaters; our first
ever record of red-
tailed black cockatoo; red-browed pardalote; and a bustard on the immediate
outskirts of
Deniliquin, probably the first record in a hundred years. There have been musk,
purple-crowned and
little lorikeets in town for months. At various times, there have been influxes
of honeyeaters from
the mallee and foothill forests including yellow-tufted, yellow-plumed,
white-fronted, as well as
scarlet.
In June this year the Cloncurry-Mt Isa area, which I have birded since the
1980s, was drier than I
have ever seen it and there was hardly a bird in the ranges about that area. In
particular, south of
Cloncurry where I?d expect to see hundreds of painted finches, not a single
bird was seen. Eventually
we saw about 30 birds between Cloncurry and Mt Isa and a few around Lake
Moondara. There has
been a huge exodus from this area. Given that key areas of their heartland,
such as Alice Springs and
Tennant Creek are also in drought, who knows where painted finches may turn up.
There is a recent,
reliable record on the escarpment at Gunlom in Kakadu NP.
Last September we got painted finch about 70 km north of Warri-Warri Gate in
south-west
Queensland and there are the 2007 Broken Hill and Sturt NP records already
mentioned on this
forum. Given that painted finches have been moving in a southerly direction for
some time, there is
no reason to believe that the pair near Yanco Creek, Jerilderie, should be
anything other than wild
birds.
Given the conditions, we can expect to see more of the unexpected.
Cheers
Philip Maher
Australian Ornithological Services PL
PO Box 385
South Yarra 3141
Victoria
Australia
Tel: +61 3 98204223
E -mail:
Web address: http://www.philipmaher.com
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