Scarborough Park - Sydney

["Ricki Coughlan" <>]

Your sighting of the Figbird confirms a glimpse I had of one recently but figured that I was seeing things. The Olive-backed Orioles were accompanied by their call and I saw them from about 2 metres so I'm as convinced as one can be of their identity. I'd thought that I may have heard Little Grassbirds some time back, so will stay tuned for them. Others on your list are pretty impressive. They're a little out of the forest vicinity but demonstrate that the entire zone of parks, streams and wetlands in the area is significant. Unfortunately a great deal of it is becoming over run with weeds and then treated as garbage dumps by uncarring folk. Such is the fate of so much urban bushland. It is becoming true to say that the only places one can find even reasonably undamaged habitats for our wildlife on the east coast is within National Parks. This was certainly not true even a couple of decades ago. Even then streets weren't all curbed and guttered and frogs had homes in the suburbs - every child had the chance to witness the unbelievable magic of nature as a tadpole would turn into a frog. Bushland plots were never far away. With such disconnection from nature no wonder so many folk no longer care about or understand the need to fight for its preservation.