An announcement which might be of interest, particularly to those of
you compiling research projects and lists of Australian ornithological
internet sites. The Kangaroo Island Glossy Black Cockatoos now have a
homepage at
http://dove.net.au/~rwoolly/
The most interesting information is the six back issues of the Recovery
Team's newsletter "Chewings" which details progress on the recovery
project so far. It makes heartening reading because 1996 was an
extremely successful breeding season with a total of eighteen chicks
fledging. Also of interest is some progress in determining which
factors are significant in selection of breeding sites (there is
evidence that breeding cockatoos prefer sheoaks with at least 80% of
cones having kernels, and that soils should be neutral to acidic and
have good water-holding capacity). See Chewings 5 and 6 for fuller
discussion of this. Full marks to the team, Tamra Chapman, Gabriel
Crowley, Stephen Garnett and Lynn Pedler, and to all their island
helpers.
Dreaming of South Australian summers is all well and good.. here in
Leuven we are emerging from a few weeks of sub-zero temperatures. All
the static surface water was frozen and the local Dijle River had some
interesting visitors including Grote Zaagbek (Goosander) and Nonnetje
(Smew). Actually "nonnetje" means "nun" in Dutch (which makes sense as
the male Smew is a stunning black and white) but it did cause me great
confusion when some locals were explaining to me that there was a
"flock of nuns" on the river....
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Keith M. Martin Tel +32 16 32 18 62
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Fax +32 16 32 19 86
Dept. Elektrotechniek-ESAT
Kardinaal Mercierlaan 94
B-3001 Heverlee
Belgium
http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/~martin/
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