Hello All
Recently an Atlas record of mine was queried, a Silver-backed Butcherbird
way out of range in the wet season. I didn't think too much of it as I'd
expected these birds might move south at that time of year. I rang
Hilary Thompson and sure enough he knew of an old record same bird, same
time of year, similar vicinity.
I record my sightings on a notepad and then place them on the Atlas form,
finding the forms too clumsy to use. This way I have two records of any
sighting.
Re sensitive sites - the Stuart Park mangroves area wasn't well known to
individual birders for a long time although bird tour operators were
going there for Chestnut Rail. By quoting their numbers to the relevant
Minister I was able to put a case for retaining those mangroves while all
around them were cleared. Mind you I don't know how well the birds will
do if the plan to destroy 32% of the mangroves in Darwin harbour goes
ahead.
A few years ago I discovered young Gouldian Finches at a truck stop near
Gregory NP, Victoria Highway. At the time I'd already been researching
the bird's habitat for a couple of years and I had no ethical problems
reporting this finding to the Bird Observer's Club. But they held back
the sighting citing the perceived threat to the bird from visiting
birdwatchers. Luckily the site is still there and intact, but who knows
whether that can be said of the area where those finches nested. Having
seen the devastation caused by landowners in the Top End - Warren
Anderson virtually cleared vast tracts of Tipperary of every single tree
and bush - I'd rather have people know about such a site than not.
But by the same token I worry about some local tour operators who in the
past have shown little ethical behaviour. I ran a national campaign
against some who did things like ram crocodiles to make them jump, and
chipped bits of ancient stromatolites at an Aboriginal sacred site. If
any ever discover they can make money from showing people more than the
odd djagana then there may be problems.
Denise
Denise Goodfellow (Lawungkurr Maralngurra)
Specialist Guide
Ph/fax 08 89818492
PO Box 39373
WINNELLIE NT 0821, AUSTRALIA
www.earthfoot.org
Parap Bookshop
2ndhand and new books
08 89813922
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