Dear Phil
I got the following info from Long, JL 1981 Introduced Birds of the World.
Reed.
"In Western Australia the Mute Swan was introduced some time between 1897
and 1912 (Long, 1972).
They are sometimes found on ornamental waters around Perth and a small
colony is established on
the Avon River at Northam .. east of Perth. Some have been liberated in
other areas ... but the species
has shown little inclination to extend its range or increase markedly in
numbers. In 1978 the Avon
River colony only numbered some thirty-one birds."
I hope this helps
Peter
At 04:36 PM 8/10/2005 +1000, you wrote:
hi folks,
Just back from a 33 day round Australia trip, during which time we went
via Northam weir near Perth and unashamedly twitched for Mute Swan. There
was one bird out on the river bank -yay! and the local council is trying
to reintroduce the species as they have not bred for some years. There is
a fenced enclosure near the river which held two nests and three birds,
which will presumably be able to go to the river in due course.
I was interested to see what a high profile the white swans of Northam
have locally, figuring in the advertising literature and various local
business names, with high awareness that they are the only feral colony
remaining in Australia.
I was disappointed to see that HANZAB has no details of the history of
this site. Morecombe mentions that Mute Swans were brought to Australia in
1886 and introductions continued into the 1920's. i was wondering when the
Northam birds were brought there, and how big the colony got, also what
size is it now? Can anyone help?
Thanks
Phil Gregory
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