Hi Laurie
My guess - summa rising quite a bit of data - includes
Red-rumped Parrots (RRPs) being historically part of the
Melbourne scene (we have local records back to 1949 in a range
of habitats).
Continuing the guess, they are associated with Crested Pigeons
(CPs) in my - and your - experience because CPs like grassy
woodlands (eg golf courses!) which have also been invaded over
the last few decades by Noisy Miners (NMs).
NMs are rightly much maligned for booting smaller native bird
species from areas they control. But in grassy woodlands they
(nearly) exclude Common Mynas and Starlings as nesting species,
thus liberating nest holes for RRPs.
Does anyone know about food preferences ? A while ago there
were postings on Birding-aus about RRPs enjoying introduced
Annual Meadow Grass and Cape Weed. Identifying what pigeons and
doves (Crested, Bronzewing or Spotted) are eating is much
harder.
Michael Norris
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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