Julienne
I guess the issue could become semantic. I
took GD to mean that the issue was more focussed on ‘overlooking a number
of visits’ than ‘has there EVER been’ cases of these birds
being here. If we are on the latter, one would be heroic to think they’ve
never been here (as BA’s message makes clear). But if we are wondering—as
I thought Geoffrey was—whether there had been a steady trickle and we
just had not noticed I stay with my original view: tens of thousands of “bin
hours” by hundreds of birdos in numerous locations and hardly any trace
before suggests they actually were not here.
I like this a lot better than “we
never saw them”—esp. given that most birdos and I make no exception
for myself—get a kick out of finding something new/unusual. ( I quail at
some of the things I wanted to think I’d seen before common sense and
further examinations of Field Guides prevailed). I really think that if they
had been around we would have recorded them.
Surely the changed conditions in recent
years are not irrelevant? When we had an influx of Painted HEs a few years back
for the first time in ages, everyone seemed happy with the explanation that
drought conditions had pushed the birds east. Why would unusual sightings now
require different types of explanation? …. J
Stephen
From:
Kamprad [
Sent: Monday, 16 July 2007 1:46 PM
To: 'Geoffrey Dabb';
Subject: [canberrabirds]
Honeyeater Poll
Aha! The plot thickens.
Pushing my answer to Geoffrey's poll towards Probably for the Black-chinned HE
, Jack and Andrea Holland
