Curiously, The GBS Report (Veerman 2002, 2003, 2006) on 21 years of the GBS, did not cite that thesis, however page 6 does mention the related publication, which probably draws on that thesis,
as such:
Munyenyembe et al. (1989) reported on an 11 month study in Canberra. The year of that study coincided with Year 2 of the GBS, (their report did not mention the GBS even though the authors were aware of it). However,
as described later, this study has revealed that the bird population in suburban Canberra was far from typical in the year of the study by Munyenyembe
et al. (1989). They found that mean total number of bird species increased with the age of the suburb <12 years old. The density of birds also increased with suburb age. This applied to open forest and woodland species but not grassland or exotic species.
The determinant was related to habitat, rather than specifically the age of the suburb. They found that the number of open forest, woodland and grassland species decreased with distance of suburban sites from native vegetation areas but exotic species did
not. Indeed the abundance of grassland and exotic species increased with distance of sites from remnant native vegetation. The GBS pools data from all sites and looks at the data primarily as a time series rather than geographically. Yet when the GBS results
are looked at by site basis, they are consistent with the conclusions of Munyenyembe
et al. (1989).
Also page 29 of The GBS Report mentions: . Also, the climate during the preceding winters in northern Australia may impact on the total number of birds surviving to migrate
back south. Note the relevance of the earlier comments about the study by Munyenyembe
et al. (1989). The summer of 1988–89 was particularly wet and in the following winter of 1989 many usually common winter migrants were in low numbers. Maybe the wetter than usual summer may have depressed breeding success and therefore reduced the number
of birds in Canberra during the following winter. Another possibility is if conditions at the higher altitudes were better after a wetter than average preceding summer, this may have allowed more birds to stay in the high country during the 1989 winter. There
is much scope for further consideration of this aspect, especially with the impact of drought and fires in 2002 and 2003.
And the reference is. Munyenyembe, F., Harris, J., Hone, J. & Nix, H. 1989, ‘Determinants of bird populations in an urban area’,
Australian Journal of Ecology 14: 549–557.
As to
"Why Higgins?",
well, it is a western suburb of Canberra and this is a species occurring to our west. So it probably got to there and didn’t want to go any further.
I’ll be a little self indulgent and bring to mind the White-fronted Honeyeater that came to my garden in Kambah and was seen every day (except one) for six
weeks, in the winter of 2003. Another western species that curiously got as far as my home and stayed for that time then, well we don’t know, but the species has not been observed in our region since then.
Philip
From: Canberrabirds [
On Behalf Of tlann rail via Canberrabirds
Sent: Friday, 23 May, 2025 12:53 PM
To: CanberraBirds email list
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Bird density and species richness in suburban Canberra
The last issue of the Gang Gang newsletter asked "Why Higgins?" in reference to the unusual sighting of a Striped Honeyeater in my local suburb. We took that question seriously and went looking for some research that might shed some light
on what most of us already know from observation. We found this Master's Thesis written by Munyenyembi F (1985) -
Bird density and species richness in suburban Canberra, Australia: relationship with street vegetation, age of suburb and
distance from bird source areas of native vegetation.
Right now, Higgins sits in a sweet spot. The suburb is located next to source areas of native woodland, and itself has many remnant eucalypts, younger planted eucalyptus street trees, and patches of native understory. However, like other
suburbs established in the 1970s, retention of those vegetation characteristics is under threat from gentrification and renewal, as well as a planned major arterial road on the suburban edge that will cut the connection between Higgins and its native woodland
sources. Hence, the Conservation Council is sponsoring a petition to the developers requesting they stop the destruction of the trees on Drake Brockman Drive. See
here.
The striped honeyeater is still around. I heard it two days ago in a gorgeous remnant yellowbox in someone's backyard, close to the Brazel Street box gum grassy woodland. I have also been hearing other species that I cannot identify.
Red-browed finches have been visiting my backyard too. They like the late flowering wallaby grass. It doesn't take much to make me excited. :)
