The irony of it all!
After some members in our local club braved aome lousy weather and searched
in vain elsewhere on last weekend's Regent Honeyeater/Swift Parrot National
Survey, two dead Swift Parrots, a male and an immature, were brought into
local Toowoomba vet, Bob Doneley, yesterday by a member of the public.
They were retrieved them from a private tennis court on the northwest
outskirts of Toowoomba, about 1km from DPI where I work. A third "sick"
bird managed to fly off and hasn't been seen again. One had an impact
injury so it would seem that the birds have collided with the wire netting
surrounding the court. Is this a problem with Swifties elsewhere?
Apparently these 3 birds had been coming to a feeder with parrot seed for
several days which I was also surprised to hear! This is the first club
record for Toowoomba although there have been intermittent records in the
region (Highfields to the north, and Helidon and Gatton to the east) over
the years. Alas, I still haven't seen one.
Michael Atzeni
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