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Evening, folks.
Some interesting discussion about the relative
impacts of foxes and feral cats on birds like Bush Stone-curlews and
Bustards. When we visited the Eyre Peninsula in September 1999 we
understood that Bush Stone-curlews were extinct in the southern part of the
Peninsula but hanging on on some of the small offshore islands. When we
camped in Lincoln National Park there was a fair bit of publicity about the fox
elimination process that had been going on in preparation for the release of (I
think from memory) Brush-tailed Bettongs into the park. We didn't see any
Bettongs but on three of the four nights we camped at Fisherman Point (well
towards the northern end of the Park and quite some distance from the nearest of
the off-shore islands) we heard Stone-curlews near our camp, suggesting that
they had possibly spread back through most of the Park. I don't know
whether the fox control program would also have had any impact on feral cat
numbers. Interestingly, I also heard Western Whipbirds in more places
than I expected - perhaps also a beneficiary of the fox control
program?
With so many changes to our ecology since
settlement, it's hard to pin down the individual reasons for specific ecological
impacts, but improved control of any exotic species, especially predatory
species and aggressively competitive species, seems more likely than not to be a
step in the right direction unless evidence emerges to the
contrary.
On another note, we went back to Deep Lead last
weekend and found at least 70 Swift Parrots, a very satisfying result.
Atlas and Swift Parrot survey forms in preparation.
Regards to all,
Jack
Krohn
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