canberrabirds

are Double-barred Finches declining in the ACT?

To: "" <>
Subject: are Double-barred Finches declining in the ACT?
From: Philip Veerman <>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2019 12:33:15 +0000

Following on from this earlier discussion, a sort of associate of mine (not a COG person) who lives on the western side of Mount Taylor (about 2 rows of houses away) tells me he is now again getting up to 20 Double-barred Finches visiting his garden, that has water and some seed put out. He tells me there are commonly 4 or 5 through a lot of the year but most years, as this one, numbers increase up to the 10 to 20 range. I told him that is a good number. The seasonal pattern probably reflects breeding on Mount Taylor and accumulation of new young birds into flocks looking for new resources. Although I have encountered them on Mount Taylor many times, I haven’t encountered that many.

 

Philip

 

From: John Harris [
Sent: Friday, 25 January, 2019 11:03 AM
To:
Cc: Philip Veerman
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] are Double-barred Finches declining in the ACT?

 

Thanks to everyone who helped answer my questions about the reasons for DB Finch decline. Reminding me to check the stats on our site was a helpful reminder. However, I was interested in the reasons. I think ALL the suggested reasons are true. Habitat loss, kangaroo grazing, invasive non-native grasses, climate change, drought etc etc. My question was related to why they are declining while the RBF appears not to be. All those factors of habitat loss etc MUST equally affect the DBF and the RBF. A very helpful observation came from Philip Veerman, which was that Canberra is at the edge of the DBF’s range but central to the RBF’s range.  In other words, those negative factors will be initially more obvious in the DBF numbers as it as already more marginal here anyway and therefore more susceptible to negative change..

 

 

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • are Double-barred Finches declining in the ACT?, Philip Veerman <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the Canberra Ornithologists Group mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the list contact David McDonald, list manager, phone (02) 6231 8904 or email . If you can not contact David McDonald e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU