Ah, this is another story altogether! Probably Joe Forshaw would be the best to answer this but I do know what he will say (and for the most part I agree with him). Most of the local birds are probably escapees/aviary releases. That said however, back in the late 1970’s early 80’s, a colleague who was working at CSIRO at the same time as me and who lived on the end of Wallaroo Road overlooking the Murrumbidgee River, would come in and tell me in the morning that “two Little Corellas flew up the river this morning” and next day would say “that two corellas flew down the river the previous night”. So to answer your question, I suspect we have both genuine wild and escapees around Canberra with the latter the more dominant birds. Like the Rainbow Lorikeet, they are now almost certainly breeding around the city.
Long-billed Corellas are certainly escapees. We are a long way from their normal habitat and with all the time I have spent to the west and northwest of Canberra I have never seen genuine wild birds. The banded bird that everyone sees around Narrabundah/Callum Brae probably came from the now defunct zoo. I did see a Long-billed Corella on Kooragang Island many years ago but that can almost certainly be traced back to illegal releases.
Cheers,
Mark
From: Peter Ormay
Sent: Sunday, 6 April 2014 10:40 AM
To: 'Mark Clayton'
Cc: 'calyptorhynchus .'; 'Canberra Birds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Lorikeets in Hughes (and Gang-Gangs)
What in your opinion is the origin of the corellas in the ACT? Are they the offspring of aviary escapees?
Peter
From: Mark Clayton [m("bigpond.com","chollop7");">]
Sent: Saturday, 5 April 2014 1:50 PM
To: 'Paul Fennell'; 'Martin Butterfield'
Cc: 'calyptorhynchus .'; 'Canberra Birds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Lorikeets in Hughes (and Gang-Gangs)
Perhaps I should have phrased my original point a bit more clearly. I should have said that the local birds ORIGINATED from aviary escapees. I am quite happy to accept that the birds are now breeding around town. One only has to look at what has happened to Rainbow Lorikeets around Perth to see what will almost certainly eventually happen here, with the detrimental impact on native hole nesting species that are already competing with Common Myna and Common Starling. I know of a lot of other records from the Kaleen/Giralang area that never get placed on any sort of report form. These are records sent or told to me by former colleagues at CSIRO etc. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to physically write down all these records so they will never make it to the Annual Bird report and the like.
Mark
From: Paul Fennell [m("grapevine.com.au","ptf");">]
Sent: Saturday, 5 April 2014 1:35 PM
To: 'Martin Butterfield'; 'Mark Clayton'
Cc: 'calyptorhynchus .'; 'Canberra Birds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Lorikeets in Hughes (and Gang-Gangs)
While the Rainbow Lorikeets first seen in Canberra may well have been intrepid escapees rather than intrepid explorers blazing new trails through the ranges from the coast, it is quite clear to me that there has been a significant presence of the species around Hawker for a number of years, both in summer and in winter.
The other day approximately 50-60 were observed in one group in Marrakai St Hawker, near a house where it was assumed the residents were feeding them. Prior to that, groups of 8 to 10 have been reported as far back as 2001 in Hawker. At my house in Scullin at least 2, and up to 6 birds were observed daily feeding in the very large banksia tree near our front door. They were there every day, summer and winter. Since we have removed the tree, we get Rainbow Lorikeets in the yard much less frequently (still 2 banksias left), but observe small flocks regularly flying by.
I need no further evidence to convince me there is a viable long-term, wild, breeding population in South Belconnen.
Cheers
Paul
Paul Fennell
Editor Annual Bird Report
COG Databases Manager
026254 1804
0407105460
From: Martin Butterfield [m("gmail.com","martinflab");">]
Sent: Saturday, 5 April 2014 11:20 AM
To: Mark Clayton
Cc: calyptorhynchus .; Canberra Birds
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Lorikeets in Hughes (and Gang-Gangs)
What evidence would you need to convince you that the Lorikeets are not aviary escapes?
I have no dispute at all that the original birds might have escaped from aviaries rather than flown up the Hume Highway. However I have seen them emerging from tree hollows in breeding season and the way the numbers and distribution have changed suggests to me that there is now a self sustaining population in the Canberra region.
An analogy could be drawn with Common Mynahs where it is known the original infestation was a human act but (as far as I am aware) no-one is saying Mynahs are now escapees.
On 5 April 2014 10:36, Mark Clayton <m("bigpond.com","chollop7");" target="_blank">> wrote:
Hi John,
I think point number 2 covers what happens when it is wet. I can’t see where Gang-gangs would go in wet weather as the whole area was pretty wet in that period.
With the Rainbow Lorikeets in my area (Kaleen), yesterday I had two feeding in the rain in the tree in my front yard where I reported 5 birds a week or so ago. I am yet to be convinced that the birds we see locally are anything other than aviary escapees and email conversations with several people tend to agree with me. Despite the rain I stood under the tree and watched them for about 10 minutes – sorry, no Gang-gangs but I am waiting for them to arrive in a neighbour’s yard where they fed in a Hawthorn last year.
Cheers,
Mark
A flock of eight Rainbow Lorikeets screeching past in Hughes this morning.
No Gang-Gangs in Hughes since the 24 March (when the rain started). I had seen or heard them almost daily since the beginning of the year till then.
When people have entered all their Gang-Gang data at the COG/ALA site it will be interesting to see if all GG records in the ACT ceased in this wet weather. If they did it could either be because:
1. GGs leave Canberra in wet weather
2. Observers don't get out and GGs are less vocal/obvious in wet weather.
Or a combination of 1 and 2.
--
John Leonard
