Following up the sighting of the OBP at Maroubra, I spent most of Wednesday
afternoon and all day Thursday searching for the bird. The rifle range and
adjacent old tip site contain a vast amount of potentially suitable habitat
for a parrot. The native daisy Senecio is flowering and seeding all over
the site. This is a known OBP food plant. There could also be some
seeding sedges and shrubs in the remnant coastal heath. Although I didn't
find the parrot there is a large area over which it could occur and I would
encourage Sydney birders to search the area as widely and as often as
possible to try and relocate it. In particular, it's important to look for
the leg bands to try and read the letter on the blue band on it's right
leg. There is so much we can learn from this bird and, with the earlier
sighting at Shellharbour in late May, could greatly increase our
understanding of OBPs at sites beyond their known range.
Jonathan Starks
Winter Co-ordinator,
OBP Recovery Program
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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