> Michael Todd wrote:
>
> However, I'm pretty sure that the Dimey is suffering at least on a
> local basis from trapping also. It has disappeared from a lot of areas
> where it used to exist in the Hunter valley, some of which still would
> have the habitat. When I lived in the Hunter I used to keep birds
> including finches, and I talked to quite a few aviculturalists who
> would tell me where they used to see Dimeys out in the bush. Some of
> these I have since found out have been convicted of poaching! I've
> lost track of the number of aviculturalists I've talked to over the
> last few years who are obviously skilled in their hobby (breeding many
> and varied species) yet say they can't succeed with their dimeys. Not
> being an expert in bird breeding I'd prefer not to speculate on why,
> but, some of these people refuse to give up and instead of continually
> buying more they decide to take a few from "out the back".
I am a bit surprised by this, since Diamond Firetails are not considered
a difficult bird to breed in SE Queensland at least. Good breeders will
usually get 10 to 12 babies a year from a pair. Poor breeding results
are mainly due to trying to breed incompatible pairs, and not feeding
live food. Placing two adult birds together is often unsuccessful -
allowing a group of young birds to select their mate is much more likely
to result in good breeding pairs. Also many aviculturalists don't
realise the need for live food such as white ants or mealworms to have
successful breeding. Most Australian finches breed quite happily
without live food, but not the Diamond Firetail.
Some illegal trapping might have occured locally, but given their
relatively low price of around $50 a pair (a reflection of their ease of
breeding) I would believe it is very sporadic and minor.
cheers,
Mike Owen
Queensland
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