On one point made by Mike Todd (see below), I find it hard to believe that
this guy was not intending to make money selling captive bred Diamond
Finches bred from illegially trapped wild birds.
Firstly the man was proved dishonest in his statement about "buying" the
finches, and secondly he was apparently making a good income from breeding
all manner of exotic species - if he was successful with the Diamonds,
would that not mean he would sell them?
"As I pointed out I'm no expert finch breeder. However, all the
aviculturalists that I've talked to over the last few years that couldn't
breed Diamond Firetails were feeding large quantities of live food. My
thought was that they might have been feeding too much and the birds getting
obese! One that particularly comes to mind, had a quite spectacular aviary
setup that was funded from a workers compensation payout. He was producing
vast quantities of foreign birds like Singing Sparrows, bulbuls, siskins,
whydahs etc. I remember working out that he had about 200,000 dollars worth
of birds in his aviaries, half of which were about to be sold. I remember
him being concerned about getting caught on his tax. He was making an easy
living out of it. He used to have air-conditioned rooms for breeding all
manner of mealworms and crickets etc. for feeding to his birds.
But, the one thing that really grated on him was that he couldn't breed
Diamond Firetails. He said he just kept on buying more and more without
success. I've since found out that he has been convicted for catching
Diamond Firetails for his aviaries from nearby. This must have been one of
the few remaining pockets of Dimeys in the Hunter. He obviously wasn't
catching them for financial gain- it was just a matter of pride to him I
think. He couldn't work out why he couldn't do it so he tried a different
technique. Unfortunately, as was pointed by Dion Hobcroft, even small scale
trapping can have a local impact, particularly when populations are already
fragmented and numbers already low."
Happy birding all.
Penny DB
Penny Drake-Brockman, Examination Recitals Co-ordinator, Sydney
Conservatorium of Music.
Tel: 02 9351 1254.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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