Ahh - got one! I thought
Michael Lenz’s message on Tuesday expressed a curious thought when he
wrote:
“I certainly appreciate the wealth of
information in the HANZAB (Handbook of Australian, New Zealand
and Antarctic Birds), and made an effort to buy all volumes. For others, HANZAB
is far too detailed and contains far more than they ever want to learn about
our birds, so they may not consult (and certainly not buy) this work. Likewise,
for the ACT, not everyone wants to read the more involved prose of some works
and prefers easier reading material that gives the general trend rather than
the finer detail.”
I was going to reply, but didn’t, that many
questions asked on this chatline can only be answered if at all by reference to
HANZAB or the BA Atlas or other books that people don’t have (but might
want to, if they know about them). There’s more info in HANZAB than
people want to know all right - until they want to know
it. I thought I’d wait for the first example.
I take it this is a case of the same hollow entrance. HANZAB says in its entries
for both the E Rosella and RRP that they have
been recorded nesting in the same tree, and in the case of the RRP 3m from a
conspecific. This is info from the BA ‘Nest Record Scheme’.
I would infer that if there was any published record of different parrot
species even using the same entrance (as distinct from inspecting the same hollow,
which is a common sight around Canberra),
it would be mentioned.
Incidentally, HANZAB includes, where relevant,
behaviour information published in Canberra Bird Notes – perhaps in an ‘Odd
Ob’. Submitting a note to CBN on unusual behaviour is a way of
getting the record into the cumulative literature and helping future observers
answer the questions ‘Is this usual?’, ‘Has this been observed
before?’. In fact that is the only way such questions will be able
to be answered.
From: Marg & Jim
Peachey [
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006
8:15 AM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] shared
hollows?
Is it possible for red rumps and eastern rosellas to share
the same breeding hollow? I have been watching activity in this one
hollow for several weeks and both species are in and out without any
hostilities.
