While in Mataranka recently I heard about the behaviour of some birders
towards the Red Goshawk near Bitter Springs. Some had climbed the fence
into private property and one, according to the proprietor of the nearby
caravan park , had even climbed the tree in which the bird nested.
Several other birders (thirty or forty according to the proprietor) had
camped outside their property opposite the nesting tree.
That year, according to the proprietor, the birds didn't raise any young.
Some years ago I warned birders of the ramifications of bad behaviour re
entry to the Leanyer Sewage Ponds. The result was that access to the ponds
was tightened considerably.
The goshawks have now shifted their nest well away from the road. If they
shift it again then the bird may well be out of sight of visiting birders,
and they'll be dependent on the goodwill of the owner of that property to
let them in. I think that reserve of goodwill may be wearing thin.
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
1/7 Songlark Street,
Bakewell, NT 0832
043 8650 835
PhD candidate, SCU
Vice-chair, Wildlife Tourism Australia
Nominated for the Condé Nast international ecotourism award, 2004 by the
renowned American website, Earthfoot.
Wildlife Adviser, BBC¹s ?Deadly 60¹
Birds of Australia's Top End and Quiet Snake Dreaming available on
amazon.com
A second edition of Fauna of Australia¹s Top End used by the University of
NSW as a text for 12 years is now under preparation.
'It gave me huge insight into the lives' of Aboriginal Australians¹,
Jonathon Franzen, American author, birder, conservationist (August, 2011)
on Quiet Snake Dreaming.
www.denisegoodfellow.com ( to be launched again soon).
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