Hi birders,
Re: Niven's comments, one would have had to have lived (that's a nice lot
of 'Hs") in the Top End in the 19th century to know how rare or common were
the Yellow Chats and other small birds.
Their rarity near early or present day Italian or other Southern
European migrant occupany, could well be explained by previous heavy
hunting by people eager to continue their traditional eating habits. It is
not difficult to fix up snares, nets or bird lime branches near water holes
or a food source, particularly during bad droughts. After all they must
have had some leisure and what else to do with your time in the old days?
Anyone with experience of prolonged camping, should know how often the
conservation turns to food, particularly when the variety is strictly
limited.
The subsequent heavy trapping of the desired species would quickly produce
the same birdless landscape one finds in many parts of southern Europe and
China. Why is it that man is so reluctant to point the finger at his/her
activities? If we continue to clear land, kill all organisms that compete
with our food production, alter river drainages, and pour pollutants into
the seas, we will soon end up in an arid desert with only ants and flies
for our companions! Oh, and I forgot the cockroaches.
When I first came to Sydney and started travelling around the country, I
was amazed and delighted at the variety of birds and insects (superb
butterflies, dragonflies, spiders, skinks) that still manage to survive and
flourish in the middle of our major cities. Unless we are much more
careful, we will soon lose this, like most of the northern hemisphere.
People too quickly become used to what they know and do not comprehend what
there was before the hand of man laid its heavy weight on the landscape and
removed all opposition to whatever he/she desired. If you've been brought
up in a wasteland (ie: hectares of outback arable and grazing land going
under salt or being blown away in the wind, or a Middle Eastern desert), it
takes a lot of knowledge and vision to understand what has been lost, and
enormous effort and commitment to put it right.
It can be done - witness areas of Israel where the green stops sharply at
the borders, and some far sighted farmers here who planted trees or refused
to clear all their land, much to the ridicule of their neighbours, but are
now benefitting from increased production and value to their land.
What we need is EDUCATION !
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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