Hi Scott
Thanks for the reply on foxes.
I like the idea of foxes becoming more obvious along roadsides looking for road
kills and Mcdonalds. Saw a further two road killed foxes yesterday.
Last year I found two road kill Powerful Owls along a major road that bisects a
National Park here in Melbourne, a road that is often strewn with dead
ringtailed possums.
Do wedged-tailed eagles suffer a similar fate in the outback?
Laurie
Scott O'Keeffe wrote:
> Hi Laurie.
>
> Are foxes more common, or are people just taking more of an interest in them
> (and therefore making more of an effort to see them)? Are they more common
> or just more visible? Foxes are happy to scavenge. I've found things like
> Mars bar wrappers in scats. I have heard it suggested that increased road
> traffic and the increasing prevalence of take-away foods are both
> contributing to an increase in sightings. Notice that I was careful not to
> say an increase in numbers. If foxes are scavenging along roads more often
> because road-killed animals and take-away food scraps are increasingly
> abundant, then the foxes may be simply more noticeable. I'm not trying to
> be funny. Its just that unravelling the relationship between predators and
> their prey is rarely as simple as drawing simple conclusions from what often
> turn out to be impressions rather than quantatative observations.
>
> Scott O'Keeffe
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> Behalf Of Laurence
> Living
> Sent: 14 August 2001 18:11
> To: birding; Keith Johnson; ken & vivien harris; eddie garcia
> Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] Melbourne, foxes and calci-virus
>
> Hello birders
>
> The recent thread on 1080 and foxes around Brisbane reminded me of the
> increasing frequency of sighting foxes in and near Melbourne this last
> twelve months or so.
>
> In that time I have seen foxes in the Dandenong Ranges National Park,
> Jells Park, Braeside Park and in the wetlands at Edithvale, and none of
> them were particularly shy.
>
> The number fox road kills around Melbourne, I believe, has increased
> substantially, with hardly a day passing when I dont see one going to
> work.
>
> Why are so many foxes about? Has the dcline in the rabbit population
> forced them to prey further afield?
>
> Laurie Living
>
> Birding-Aus is on the Web at
> www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
> "unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
> to
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
