canberrabirds

Spotted Turtle Doves

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Subject: Spotted Turtle Doves
From: "Barbara Preston" <>
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 15:03:52 +1000
hmm . . . I know they are 'feral pests' that may out-compete some natives (if actually around and competing), but maybe I would rather a currawong cull  - given we have boosted their numbers so much through inappropriate exotic plants etc, and so many other native birds are being reduced to being just currawong food producers. Eastern spinebills and other native honey-eaters love my exotic species camellias though the winter (esp C. grijsii & C. miyagii - both with especially nectar-laden and perfumed flowers for months) . . . . I appreciate exotic plants (as long as they are not weeds - in the wrong place), and maybe the odd exotic bird is OK.
Spotted turtle doves do remind me of my decades in Brunswick - I loved them when they were a relief from starlings and sparrows (blackbirds were OK, especially with their evocative call at 4.00 in the morning when I was nursing a baby, hours before the comforting rumble of the trams), but I loved it even more after the native plantings of so many of us (and the Brunswick council) through the 1980s finally brought a good number of honeyeaters and other small native birds.
 
Continuing that train of thought: I think there should be more concerted campaigns for dense plantings of natives that support native birds. There are so many bird-unfriendly private gardens and areas under council/public control around Canberra and country towns (Wagga comes to mind), and there are still many farm treelines recently planted with pines and berry bushes (currawong paradise) - notable on the central western slopes, around Oberon etc.
 
cheers
Barbara
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