On Thu, 11 Sep 1997, John Leonard wrote:
> Of the six falcons found in Australia, the Peregrine is the same species as
> the cosmopolitan species, and therefore must be a very recent arrival in
> Australia. ........
Hopefully more knowledgable people will address John's interesting
questions. I think there are some important mis-assumptions in this
bit though.
Evidence of a recent migration, does not imply it was into Australia.
Perhaps Peregrines have colonised the world from Australia.
I think Euro-centric prejudices still colour all our views of
Australian biogeography. Of course, there may also be evidence
of direction of migration but I'm saying don't make the assumption
without the evidence.
Evidence of recent common ancestors between Australian Peregrines and
Pergrines outside Australia doesn't imply recent arrival in either region.
It may just stem from interbreeding between the populations. Peregrines
are birds capable of long distance movements and they exploit many
habitats including coasts and islands. There may be a significant
exchange of Peregrines between Australia and the regions outside.
Andrew Taylor
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