birding-aus

'Australian' Blackbirds - do they migrate?

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: 'Australian' Blackbirds - do they migrate?
From: Lawrie Conole <>
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:41:24 +1100
Hi birders

Some musing on that feral pest the Common Blackbird (Turdus merula) in Victoria, Australia ....

A couple of observations this Autumn have me wondering whether some proportion of the Victorian Blackbird population might be migratory - even if its just the kind of altitudinal migration seen in various indigenous birds here. Let me elaborate ...

At two sites I've visited in the last fortnight, I've come across groups of Blackbirds (about 10 birds in each case) roosting/resting in isolated patches of vegetation in farmland during the day. In one case the patch was a cluster of pines in a vast dry grassy paddock, no understorey - very un-Blackbird-like habitat (Craigieburn, northern Melbourne). The others were laid up in a mess of Spanish Heath (Erica lusitanica) underneath remnant Swamp Gums (Eucalyptus ovata) in farmland (south of Colac, northern Otway Ranges foothills). Both sites were at about 200m above sea level, and perhaps less than 50km from more upland forest (>500m ASL). In both cases they flushed in groups, and didn't give the characteristic Blackbird cackle that usually accompanies such disturbance.

This seems vaguely like migrant behaviour to me. Thrushes like these often migrate at night in their natural range, and lay up in various copses of vegetation during the day. In the Craigieburn example, several migrant Grey Fantails were noted in an adjacent patch in the paddock.

I'd be interested in any comments on this matter. Does anyone live in an upland kind of place with fluctuating Blackbird numbers which might suggest regular short - medium distance movements? Any other similar observations? The 'big picture' data presented in the New Atlas publication are not finely resolved enough to address this question - particularly if only some Blackbirds are migrating/moving.

L.


--
=================================
Lawrie Conole
Senior Ecologist
Ornithology & Terrestrial Ecology

Ecology Australia Pty. Ltd.
Flora and Fauna Consultants
88B Station Street
FAIRFIELD VIC 3078 Australia
E-mail: 
Internet: http://www.ecologyaustralia.com.au/
Ph: (03) 9489 4191; Mob: (0419) 588 993
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