birding-aus

Night Parrot.

To: "Allan Richardson" <>
Subject: Night Parrot.
From: "Michael Hunter" <>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2012 09:29:55 +1000
Hi Allan.

Re your concerns about dogs getting spinifex prickles in their paws and snouts and legs.

You are right, and this was one reason I asked about suitable dogs. Just as Aboriginals develop leather-like soles which can walk on spinifex, gravel and hot sand, so can dogs. Although universally mangy and thin, dogs hanging around Aboriginal settlements might be amenable to rehabilitation and used as beaters, packs would be better than single hounds, if they could be disciplined!

The dog that flushed the NPs quoted in the Walton article that prompted this discussion would have been a working dog and used to spinifex and I have seen dingoes in spinifex areas, so that except in the areas of thickest spinifex I don't think that this would be a problem with selected dogs. Humans can usually walk between spinifex clumps without too much trouble in most places.

Having said that, I would concentrate the search on the succulent fields alongside the many salt lakes in the Centre and Southern Kimberley, where the chenopods are soft, the shrubbery otherwise fairly benign, the sand is soft, and have been the site of various NP sightings. Otherwise to concentrate on very limited areas of spinifex with historic or recent sightings.

This is still a along way from being a done deal, and all suggestions and comments are really welcome.

                                       Cheers

                                              Michael








"There's been a lot of suggestion about the use of dogs to find NP's - but there's this thing that keeps coming to mind......

Those of us who have walked through Porcupine Grass (Spinifex to most) without proper protection (I recall my first venture was in Dunlop Volleys - oh dear) have paid dearly for the price of not looking before we leapt into the stuff.

Wouldn't it be refined torture to send dogs through that stuff to flush birds?? Prickles in the nose, paws and legs. Has someone tried this and the dogs magically avoid the sharp spines"
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