Hi Terry and all,
Your posting about the budgies in Dalby certainly gives weight to the
concept of biomass which I suspect wasn't in circulation at the time!
Multiple puns are irresistible.
Have the numbers of budgies remained consistent over the last 50 years.
Wonder what sort of records we have to go by, apart from the sagging
telegraph wires of Dalby once upon a time.
I'm in a biomass mood after yet again watching the nightly grey-headed
flying fox departure from Blackbutt Reserve at Kotara, near Newcastle:
the colony leaves at that same bat time every bat evening. Rain, hail
or whatever. So much more than clockwork! On the basis of the flying
foxes - and I sorely hope their threatened species listing will help
their existence in the long term - according to "scientific opinion and
research" they play a critical role in pollination vectors for forests
generally: I wonder what the score is on this front with budgies?
Minions - or conductors for that matter - of grass and woodlands?
Desert opportunists?
Would be great if someone was in a position to engage with such
questions about flocking, symbiosis and pollination. We could perhaps
add stats on change over the last hundred years with respect to flocking
and vegetation patterns. Any research out there that has considered
birds as instrumental to the viability of particular vegetation
communities in Australia, or does it all privilege fire as the primary
force?
Keep the photos coming Mick! You're creating a major educational,
scientific and cultural resource with your webwork. If I can afford the
rates, I'll be downloading some of your masked owl recordings at the
soonest!
cheers
Craig Williams
>>> Terry Pacey <> 05/01/05 4:58 PM >>>
Back in the late 1950's or early 1960's the budgerigars decided to use
the power lines east of Dalby (Darling Downs, Qld) to spend the long
days. The wires were stretched with the weight and almost reached the
ground. After the birds had moved on, the lines neede replacing aqs
they had stretched so far. The flock filled the wires for several
miles (as it was then) and the number of birds would have been
incredible.
I wish I could remember the exact year and that I had had a digital
camera back then but maybe someone else from Qld may be able to help.
It was a sight I will never forget, even after fifty years or so.
During the mid 1960's, I lived in far west of Qld (Dajarra and
Bedourie) and even though I saw flocks of several thousand birds at
times, nothing came close to the Dalby sighting.
Cheers
Terry Pacey
Gold Coast Qld
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