Cliff,
I'd be interested to know how egg collectors who breached the rules you
speak of were "severely dealt with" and indeed how such rules were policed.
This is a good opportunity to remind birding-aussers of some issues that
circulate perennially on the list from time to time. A couple of weeks ago,
, someone posted a request for specific details of where to find Painted
Honeyeater nests in the Jandowae area in southern Queensland. I don't want
to cast aspersions on anyone, but I'd never seen a post previously from the
person concerned. Nor has he posted since, after Russell strongly and
correctly warned against anyone sharing such information on this list.
Many new posters have joined the birding-aus mailing list in recent years
and many of them are new to birding. This incident should be taken as a
warning, especially to the less experienced: egg collectors are still out
there and it would be naive to think that this list could not be used for
their purposes. Some listers have been very cavalier in divulging, for
example, the location of Red Goshawk nesting sites in recent times. The
birds at Mataranka in the Top End are well known to most birders but beyond
that I would urge everyone to use caution when discussing the whereabouts of
breeding birds in a public forum.
I was interested to read Michael Morcombe's defence of egg collecting. The
decline in the ability of most observers to locate nests is a good point and
there is no doubt that serious collectors can be hoarding a significant
scientific archive. Witness the sad story of Mervyn Goddard, who in 1983
systematically smashed - with his bare hands - almost his entire collection
during a crackdown by authorities, despite the offer of an amnesty. This
consisted of 3000 eggs from nearly 600 species! (This story is told in
Wingspan editor Penny Olsen's remarkable book on the history and extinction
of the Paradise Parrot, and is highly recommended reading.)
On the subject of another hardy birding-aus perennial: putting location
details in subject lines. It took me about a minute to look up the exact
location of South-West Rocks in a decent road atlas and there are plenty of
online sites including Google Maps and whereisit.com - no reason not to put
locations in, of course, but my point is that the inconvenience is so minor
I'm not sure it merits the kind of gnashing of teeth such negligence
inspires. (Unless the location details are of nesting birds, of course!)
Andrew Stafford
Freelance journalist
Author: Pig City http://www.qmf.org.au/02_cal/details.asp?ID=18
5/222 Sir Fred Schonell Drive
St Lucia QLD 4067
Ph. 0404 812 470
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