Of course you are right Daryl but the truth is that I am doubtful enough
that ‘we’ (whoever that really is) could actually recruit people to remove
nests but I hope I am wrong. I am too old or I might have tried already on
Percival Hill. We need to do what little we can in the most strategic way.
What I feel is that we should at least try to trap mynas which forage on
the edge of suburbs like mine which border more natural environments. I
have observed them naturalised on Percival Hill and they fly there when
disturbed.
On 3/08/2014 7:13 pm, "Daryl King" <> wrote:
>Peter,
>
>The last time I checked (a couple of years back), Fraser already had the
>17th highest density of traps in Canberra (out of 91 suburbs with
>registered traps). At 5.6 trap-sites per km2, Fraser's trap density was
>then already well above the average density of 3.7 traps per km2. For
>comparison, trap density in Fraser was then about the same as in Aranda,
>and was higher than in Chapman (5.4), Melba (4.8), and Kambah (4.7).
>
>The problem that we want to address here is the mynas' monopolising of
>nest cavities. There would seem to be little point in increasing the
>use of a method that targets only the mynas' foraging behaviour -
>especially in circumstances where an increasing number of mynas are able
>to avoid or defeat our foraging traps - while doing nothing about its
>nesting behaviour.
>
>Mynas do not continue to nest in places where their nests are regularly
>disturbed. We know that because we can stop them nesting in our roofs
>and nestboxes by removing their nests. If we put our minds to it, and
>recruit some people with the necessary skills and training, I'm sure we
>could develop a system for strategic removal of myna nests in priority
>areas. Mynas are excellent judges of risk, and would quickly get the
>message. In any event, their bulky nests would have to be removed
>before Superb Parrots (or any other parrots) would use the affected
>cavities.
>
>Daryl
>
>
>On 3/08/2014 6:25 PM, Peter Ormay wrote:
>> Do any COG members live in the areas where Superbs have been recorded
>>who
>> would be willing to operate a myna trap to reduce the competition they
>>pose
>> to the Superbs?
>> Peter
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Daryl King
>> Sent: Saturday, 2 August 2014 7:08 PM
>> To:
>> Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] 30 superbs at the mosque
>>
>> Some good news: Despite successive waves of irresponsible clearing,
>> northern Belconnen (including the area covered by Fraser) still contains
>> quite a few hollow-bearing remnant eucs - mostly in a band above the 600
>> metre contour (see attached (incomplete) map). Superb Parrots have
>> inspected hollows throughout the area in each of the past three breeding
>> seasons.
>>
>> Some bad news: 1/3 to 2/3 of hollow trees in northern Belconnen are
>> occupied by Common Mynas each year. In those circumstances, it is
>>highly
>> unlikely that Superb Parrots will re-establish a breeding population
>>there.
>>
>> Daryl
>>
>> On 2/08/2014 1:20 PM, Mark Clayton wrote:
>>> In the late 1960's, early 1970's Superb Parrots were a common species
>>> in the area that is now covered by the suburb of Fraser. I used to
>>> know people who owned a property there and Superb Parrots commonly
>>> bred in some huge old Yellow Box trees. There was also what was
>>> probably Canberra's last colony of Grey-crowned Babblers present on
>>> site. The parrots then appeared to die out for quite a while and it is
>>> only in the last decade that they appear to have made a comeback to
>>> the northern part of the ACT. How long they will stay remains to be
>>> seen as they do tend to follow food resources around. The breaking of
>>> the drought has probably had quite a bit to do with the birds return.
>>> On the other hand the ACT Government has done nothing to help them
>>>
>>> by clearing large areas of suitable habitat for housing. From memory,
>>> someone once said that of the 95 mature Yellow Box and Red Gums in the
>>> now
>>>
>>> suburb of Crace, 80 were removed for housing. Several years ago I
>>> travelled along the road that borders Mulligan's Flat NR and was
>>> horrified to see that every tree up to the reserves' boundary had been
>>> flattened. As I pointed out to Chris Davey at the time he was doing
>>> surveys to record breeding sites for the parrots, it is a totally
>>> useless exercise to find nests if all their food trees are being
>>> knocked over. This is what is happening with Regent Parrots along the
>>> Murray River. They breed in the River Red Gums and feed in the mallee
>>> which is still being cleared for agriculture. They are having to move
>> further and further to find feeding sites.
>>> I will be interested to see what happens with the Superb Parrots as
>>> Canberra continues to move into critical habitat in the newer
>>> Gungahlin suburbs. The ACT Government plans for so-called "offsets" is
>>> a farce and so is their so-called "solar orientation "policy which is
>>> one of the reasons the trees
>>>
>>> in Crace were removed. All the old Eucalypts near the Gungahlin Town
>>> centre will be dead within the next 50 years and nothing appears to
>>> have been done to start potentially replacing them. As soon a building
>>> goes up near them they will be removed as potential hazards.
>>>
>>> The older I get the more cynical I become about governments and their
>>> "environmental" policies. I don't think any of them really have a clue!
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: John Harris
>>> Sent: Saturday, 2 August 2014 12:18 PM
>>> To:
>>> Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] 30 superbs at the mosque
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> It¹s gratifying to see the Superbs becoming more visible in Gungahlin.
>>> They have been nesting here in Mulligans Flat for years but were rare
>>> in Gungahlin suburbia until the last couple of years and now quite
>>> large flocks this year. They visit Percival Hill now in numbers and I
>>> put it down to the maturing of the trees planted by landcare folk in
>>> the late 1990s which are
>>>
>>> now virtually a mature woodland environment.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/08/2014 11:57 am, "Peter Ormay" <> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hello Chris
>>>>
>>>> Yesterday 1-8-14 I watched about a maximum of 30 Superbs near the 3
>>>> large Yellow Box trees E mell. at the South end of Kate Crace St from
>>>> 9.20am to 10.30am feeding on the ground mainly in native dominated
>>>> vegetation in strong cold west wind. I could not see what they were
>>>> feeding on due to the height of the grass.
>>>>
>>>> It included a female-looking bird with yellow flecks on its back.
>>>>
>>>> The numbers fluctuated as flocks of 8 to 15 SPs flew off South and NE
>>>> but seemed to return. They seemed skittish while on the ground,
>>>> possibly due to the strong wind, flying up into the adjacent Yellow
>>>> Boxes at any disturbance such as a Wood Duck nesting in the Eastern
>>>> Yellow Box flying over them but they soon came down again.
>>>>
>>>> They were feeding mainly between the northern fence (with plain
>>>> wires) and the inner (with 2 barbed and 3 smooth wires) fence. They
>>>> also fed south of the inner fence but all within 20m of the Yellow
>>>> Boxes
>>>>
>>>> Peter Ormay
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Bill & Raelene
>>>> Sent: Sunday, 20 July 2014 12:22 PM
>>>> To:
>>>> Subject: [canberrabirds] 30 superbs at the mosque
>>>>
>>>> Gungahlin Town Centre survey with Angela Plant today. 30 Superbs
>>>> 0910-0930 in large eucs beside mosque site , sth end Kate Crace St.
>>>> Feeding on the ground, noisy, hanging about, roosting site? Low
>>>> morning sun gives them a startling, flouro green glow. Total 21
>>>>species.
>>>> Bill Graham
>>>>
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