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Mallee Emu-wren at Wyperfeld

To: Ross Macfarlane <>, martin cachard <>, Tim Dolby <>, <>
Subject: Mallee Emu-wren at Wyperfeld
From: Kev Lobotomi <>
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 21:24:39 +1000
It just seems so easy to have a go at twitchers these days. I dont see much 
evidence that twitchers do too much damage in this country. Why not have a go 
at a multitude of other groups that do so much more damage to the environment 
than twitchers do. Kev

--- Original Message ---

From: "Ross Macfarlane" <>
Sent: 22 September 2014 6:17 PM
To: "Kev Lobotomi" <>, "martin cachard" 
<>, "Tim Dolby" <>, 

Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Mallee Emu-wren at Wyperfeld

Well in this case Kevin I would have to disagree. I don't think "one would
hope" is enough reason to ignore the risk caused by a sudden increase in the
human population density. I'm not proposing to close the walking track off,
just to discourage a sudden influx of numbers until we understand what the
impact might be. There are other places where the Mallee emu-wren can be
found.

Cheers, Ross Macfarlane

-----Original Message-----
From: Kev Lobotomi
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 5:54 PM
To: Ross Macfarlane ; martin cachard ; Tim Dolby ;

Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Mallee Emu-wren at Wyperfeld

Since twitchers have been going there for 40 years looking for the only
twitchable population of redthroat in Victoria and despite this the
redthroat still survives there one would hope it wouldn't make any
difference anyway. Kevin bartram

--- Original Message ---

From: "Ross Macfarlane" <>
Sent: 22 September 2014 5:45 PM
To: "martin cachard" <>, "Tim Dolby"
<>, 
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Mallee Emu-wren at Wyperfeld

Folks, this is tremendous news and potentially a really significant boost to
the survival chances of the Mallee emu-wren, as when Sarah Brown completed
her PhD a few years ago she was unable to locate any populations outside of
the Murray-Sunset / Hattah-Kulkyne complex, as it was generally believed the
populations in Ngarkat had been decimated by the fires in the early 2000s.
Since she also found they had very poor rates of dispersal, to find a
population here really is wonderful news as just maybe a small cryptic
population has been hanging on in a place no one had expected to find them.

I would just like to add though: can we please not have a mad rush of
twitchers going looking for them in this place, at least and until someone
has been able to have a quiet look and see how many there are and how viable
this population is? This is one of our most vulnerable bird species, as the
MS/HK population is the last stronghold, and it could be wiped out overnight
by a big fire in the wrong place. This new population has the chance to
change the picture for this species' survival, so please can we not muck it
up until we know how safe it is in this new location...

Yours in stipiturid sincerity,
Ross Macfarlane

-----Original Message-----
From: martin cachard
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 8:47 AM
To: Tim Dolby ; 
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Mallee Emu-wren at Wyperfeld

hey Tim,
that's such wonderful news!!

many moons ago I stumbled upon a family party of Mallee Emu-Wrens at Big
Billy Bore, further west in the northern Big Desert in the early 1980's... I
was in the area looking for Red-lored Whistlers.
the habitat was very thick Broombrush-heath with very sparse small patches
of spinifex, so it seems they don't mind sparse spinifex as a habitat
preference...
i'm not sure how long it's been since they have been recorded in the Big
Desert.

cheers,
martin cachard,
cairns



> From: 
> To: 
> Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 06:38:17 +0000
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Mallee Emu-wren at Wyperfeld
>
> Hi all,
>
> If anyone's heading to Wyperfeld National Park (Vic), Matthew Crawford has
> just photographed a family of Mallee Emu-wren along the Discovery Walk,
> see http://www.eremaea.com. Remarkably he found the birds in an area of
> open tea-tree woodland - although there are some stands of triodia nearby,
> he was some distance from significant area of triodia. Despite extensive
> previous surveys of Wyperfeld there's have been very reports of Mallee
> Emu-wren, and their presence along the Discovery Walk seems to me to be
> new and remarkable. In fact when I first heard about it I’d dismissed as
> miss-ID’d eclipsed Splendid or Variegated Fairy-wren. So I’m currently
> eating humble pie! Why are they there now? Migration, population
> expansion, or perhaps displacement due to fires?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tim
>
>
>
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