Gang-gang Cockatoos in East Kambah

["Philip Veerman" <>]

Fair question. Then again it might be that GGs are feeding on plant species that are not "hard-core native" to the ACT region, that they do feed on, in other areas, where both the plant and the bird are "hard-core native" to. The question can get as wordily complicated or simple as you wish to make it. I am not very hard-core on this issue and would have taken Geoffrey's idea as non-native to be exotic to Australia, but that is just me.

 

About Geoffrey's comment another example, as with the King-Parrots, of birds that have bred in the hills coming into the food-rich suburbs in Autumn. That is surely what is happening. One can guess though as to the extent that this is due to human created habitat and food availability and how much it is an ancient altitudinal migration still happening.

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----
From: martin butterfield [
Sent: Sunday, 11 March 2012 11:30 AM
To: Geoffrey Dabb
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Gang-gang Cockatoos in East Kambah

Geoffrey

An
interesting question.

Another interesting question is "What is
native?".  The hard-core native plant person would regard any species which
does not occur naturally (or possibly, in these land clearing enhanced times,
has not occurred naturally) within a rather small radius of the study
site.  Thus many of the Hakeas and Grevilleas, not to mention the
attractive Acacia baileyana, planted in Canberra gardens are all
non-native.


Martin

On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 10:24 AM, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:

It seems to me that this is another example, as with the King-Parrots, of
birds that have bred in the hills coming into the food-rich suburbs in
Autumn.  There were 6 around the Griffith shops yesterday.  A friend in
Garran has just had adults with juvs at her feeder.

What would be interesting would be some idea of the proportion of feeding on
native sources versus exotic and artificial sources.  The former is much
less usual, in my experience.  Occasionally I see them on eucalyptus buds,
and I have seen them nibbling spitfire grubs.  Those in the bot gardens, on
eucalyptus buds and acacia pods, would, one would think, be using native
flora, but it is quite likely that there the food source, although 'native',
is an out-of-area planting.