Jeff Amess narrowed his meaning of "rural" but still leaves me to repeat my
previous posting. The Darling Downs of Southern Queensland was never "real"
bush in the sense of forested areas. Its European discoverers did not call
it "Downs" for nothing. There are closely settled farms over much of it and
scattered properties on the eastern edge where the "downs" tend to be more
"ups" with light forests.
My posting on CMs in this area referred to "30 km from urban areas". The
rural area I was referring to was the township of Bell, on the eastern edge
of the Darling Downs, which has a population of under 200 people. These
birds were also at least ten kilometres from the nearest farm house along
back roads. I mentioned them to a number of people at the time and checked
on the population for two years until I left the area. During those two
years, the number in the flock, and the area they appeared to "call their
own" increased. I approached a number of land-owners in the area and
suggested they "get rid" of the birds. Each land-owner expressed concern
about the possibility of "greenies" hearing about their shooting birds and
suggested they let them be.
I saw no nesting and so cannot comment on this but the increase in numbers
over two years would suggest that breeding was taking place.
I am still unsure if this meets Jeff's criteria but believe that it goes
close.
Terry Pacey
Toowoomba Qld
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