In the Clarence Valley large numbers (hundreds) of Topknot Pigeons arrive in
the cooler months to feast on the Camphor Laurel fruits. They may rely on
the Camphor Laurels at this time of the year but traditionally there would
have been native species to provide the winter food. Liz Huxtable (nee
Date) and Harry Recher carried out a study of rainforest pigeons on the NSW
North Coast some years back and concluded that Camphor Laurels were
essential to the maintenance of pigeon populations, at least in the short
term. The Camphor Laurel is now classified as a weed and is being
controlled in many parts of the north coast. I support this as the Camphor
Laurel invades natural bushland and competes with native trees. We have
ring-barked most Camphor Laurels in the Coutts Crossing area and rather than
losing our White-headed Pigeons we have not seen a reduction in numbers post
Camphor Laurel. It is important to protect the rainforest remnants that
still survive on the NSW North Coast and to promote the planting of local
provenance rainforest fruiting plants in cleared areas.
Despite the attraction of the Camphor Laurel to Topknot Pigeons they do eat
many other (native) species of rainforest fruits and I am confident that
they will survive in reasonable numbers post Camphor Laurel. It should be
stated that the super-abundance of Camphor Laurels on the NSW North Coast
means that they will still be around for a long time yet despite efforts to
eradicate them.
Greg Clancy
Ecologist and Birding Guide
Coutts Crossing
NSW
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