>Morning all,
>
>I too am reluctant to rule out the 'natural occurrence theory' re Painted
>Button-quail in inner urban Melbourne. I have seen a pair at Blackburn
Lake
>Sanctuary (c. 30 ha reserve, c 15 km east of Melbourne CBD, essentially
isolated
>from other native vegetation by at least a kilometre or two of residential
>suburbia), running around making platelets, etc., just as 'normal wild
birds' do
>when you see them miles from suburbia. I can also recall reports of them
flying
>into windows at Clayton (c. 20 km south-east of Melbourne CBD), and Balwyn
(c.
>10 km east of Melbourne CBD). Added to Rohan's observations, these records
beg
>the question of the 'aviary escapee theory': where do you draw the line
between
>likely aviary escapees and likely wild birds as you move from the CBD,
through
>inner suburbs, outer suburbs, and eventually native bush beyond the
suburbs?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Paul Peake.
I dont know if there are any guide lines ,more than likely there wouldn't
be ,they wouldn't be workable
I tend to work along the lines of if you see more than one of a species
or a small group it is not likely to be an escapee although you cant rule
out deliberate release
also you need to consider if the bird is common in aviculture or not , an
avicultural background might help here
I also consider if the bird is in or out of habitat for instance a lone
superb parrot ,Diamond dove or zebra finch in a Melbourne back yard is
likely to be an escapee
A group of button quail in remnant vegetation are likely to be wild birds
This reminds me of the long billed corellas which have set up their "feral"
populations all over the country . I still wonder if our locals here along
the yarra are derived from released stock or natural spread from the
western districts
Then there is the crested pigeons down bayside I would think they were
deliberatly released (easily bred in aviculture ,difficult to sell or low
value) Or have bred from deliberatly released birds
At the end of the day its still a guess
cheers
Ian
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