G'day Everyone,
I have just recently heard on my favorite 774 3LO
radio station this morning of the problems in the
Otways with logging, yet again this issue rearing it's
stupid and ugly head and I also read with interest
Laurie and Leanne Knight's email "Birds in the News".
A very good email indeed.
What springs to my mind is this, just how serious are
we about the numbers of humans that thee Australasian
land mass can viably sustain? and CAN we live with and
alongside the Australian wildlife?
As more and more of the Australian Countryside now
disappears, due to roads, railways, towns and cities
springing up all over the place. Large chunks of the
landmass being altered by human industrial activities,
trade and commerce it makes me ponder about why so
many birds are moving back to where they once belonged
..... it's quite natural really. As we all tend to
want to go home at one stage of our lives! do we not?
But firstly back to this morning and the radio talk
with John on 3LO.
My thoughts are these, we as humans have allegedly the
potential to grow? not only our own bodies but also
trees. Many on this list know of people who sell young
trees. Why should we NOT have the thought that any
tree
that is felled here in Oz, should be grown by the
person doing the felling? why do we use the
terminology "Harvest" when they refer to felling
native trees? my thoughts are when using the
terminology "Harvest" it implies that a human is
gathering in a crop, any crop in fact, that he/she has
grown. Yes there is a lag period BUT it is no where
near as long as many state? some trees can easily grow
under managed conditions here in Oz to 100 feet in
less then ten years. Yep you can literally sit there
and watch them grow ...... just think of the
eco-tourism in that alone. Think of the advertising
slogans that could abound. Whilst all the time leaving
the ancient native trees to our beautiful and caring
adult birds. The potential in bird tourism is already
coming to the for, as the Oz dollar stays low.
Okay now on to Laurie and Leanne's email.
=======================================================
COUNCIL STICKY BEAK AT IBIS EXPLOSION
Catriona Mathewson
Courier Mail (p5, 17-04-2001)
BRISBANE City Council is expected to launch an assault
on the ibis in an attempt to stop the scavenging bird
multiplying out of control in the city centre. A
council-commissioned report into ibis problems at the
Botanic Gardens found about 100 birds were living and
breeding in the park and recommended action be taken
to evict them because of potential health problems.
The ibis is a recognized carrier of Newcastle disease,
Asian flu and salmonella.
"Having a breeding colony in the middle of the city is
a potential problem," the reports author Darryl Jones
warned.
Although the ibis is a protected species, the birds
have become an increasing nuisance in Brisbane, with
South Bank recently enlisting the help of Queensland
Parks and Wildlife officers to control birds, which
harass diners for food scraps and foul the gardens.
=======================================================
JAG says:
I'll hop in here to say Newcastle disease, Asian flu
and salmonella were NOT created by IBIS. Bad practices
created by humans create these problems.
=======================================================
Ibis and their pungent droppings are also rife in the
Botanic Gardens and they have quickly taken up
residence in the recently opened Roma Street Parkland.
=======================================================
JAG says:
Mankind changing the local environment yet again eh?
=======================================================
Dr Jones, who works in Griffith University's Suburban
Wildlife Research Group, said council needed to move
the birds out of the city by tearing down nests and
stopping them roosting at night. "There's only one
place where they're breeding in Brisbane and that's
the City Botanic Gardens," Dr Jones said.
=======================================================
JAG says:
Tisk Tisk Tisk Mr. Jones is that thee only method that
can be employed?
=======================================================
Officers would need to be particularly vigilant when
breeding season started in about two months. Council
also needed to restrict the birds' access to food
scraps. To some extent this had been achieved by
removal of open bins from the park.
=======================================================
JAG says:
Now there thinking.
=======================================================
Dr Jones also advocated a public education campaign to
tell residents and tourists not to feed the ibis.
=======================================================
JAG says:
NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STALE and ROTTING FOOD against
food fit for human consumption up there eh?
=======================================================
The birds had been in Brisbane for about 10 years but
had begun breeding rapidly in the past five years.
=======================================================
JAG asks:
What happened five years ago in that area? not only is
the wish to kill them off with a lack of drinking
water but NO FEEDING WILD BIRDS human food THAT WE ROB
OF THEIR HOMES EH?
=======================================================
They were once confined to inland wetland areas but
moved east during a period of drought in the mid-90s,
adapting rapidly to city life and becoming a major
pest on the Gold Coast.
=======================================================
JAG says:
So they will NEVER RETURN with time eh?
=======================================================
Dr Jones warned attempts to force the colony out of
the gardens in Brisbane could backfire if the birds
moved to the new Roma Street Parkland which, with a
large man-made wetlands area, provided an ideal
environment.
=======================================================
TIME TO CLIP CORELLA WINGS
KEITH MCDONALD
The West Australian (p9, 16-04-2001)
THE annual count of corellas in the metropolitan area
shows they have not yet grown out of control.
Birds Australia (WA) says there are about 1100 little
corellas (Cacatua sanguinea) and between 430 and 655
eastern long bills (C. tenuirostris).
There are no western corellas.
While the number of little corellas is slightly down,
there are between 200 and 300 more easterns this time
- and that is the species causing the greatest
concern.
As reported two weeks ago (eureka!, April 2), the
Department of Conservation and Land Management wants
to control numbers because of the damage the
aggressive birds can do to ovals and trees, and the
way they are
displacing other native species.
=======================================================
JAG says:
Here we go again man made changes to the environment
and we blame the birds we feed with the changes man
made?
Their are a couple of stadiums in Oz that have roofs
that help out in turf protection contact the AFL
please.
=======================================================
CALM will ask Environment Minister Judy Edwards to
authorize a program of trapping, netting, shooting and
public education.
John Blyth, of Birds Australia, said the survey on
April 7 showed there was a significant number of both
species and it was not too late to take action against
the bird.
"Our data is spotty because we can't cover the whole
of the metropolitan area," Mr Blyth said. "But our
figures over the last three years haven't changed very
much. If that's the case, although they are pretty
well established and breeding, we haven't missed the
boat in terms of control."
He said it was dangerous to assume there was no
problem.
"People said that about the rainbow lorikeets because
numbers didn't build up for a time," he said. "All of
a sudden though, numbers will start doubling
regularly.
There's no reason why they can't do that around Perth.
The western is already doing that in the Wheat-belt."
=======================================================
JAG says:
Never know perhaps the bird numbers grow to counteract
the world wide growth in human numbers and habitat
destruction?
=======================================================
The biggest concentration of easterns was in Canning
River Regional Park, where a flock of 350 was counted.
Two hundred were seen in the morning at Fremantle but
when the official count took place in the afternoon,
only 50 remained. Mr Blyth said it was possible the
others had flown the 12km to Canning River Regional
Park but he suspected they had not, and had not
figured in the count. For this reason, he believed
numbers of that species were closer to the higher
figure of 655.
Do they know what that would be worth to several
busloads plane loads of USA birding tourists? I wonder
.....
John A. Gamblin
"G'day all, yep I'm back" quiz later this week with
Enzed fridge magnets (of Enzed birds) as prizes. I've
got six on my fridge already as they are so good.
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