Hi All,
Sadly dogs aren't the only worries for Bush Stone Curlews.
As an occasional carer for wild birds in North Queensland it saddened me to see
more than just the isolated case of a bush stone curlew being injured by humans.
The worst case I heard of? A group of primary school kids took it upon
themselves to 'stone' a nesting female curlew which left her blind, wounded and
unable to look after her newly hatched chicks. All of them died in the end.
Why in the world would anyone do that?
People are selfish in that they complain about the noise these birds make at
night. Their series of haunting whistles is an iconic sound of the forest in
parts of North Queensland. Perhaps this bird woke someone up at night?
Justification for that type of treatment? I think not. I was appalled.
This incident occurred around 12 or so years ago on the Northern Beaches of
Cairns where Bush Stone Curlews have taken to nesting in people's garden beds
including mine which has always made me happy. To walk through a resort in
Palm Cove and see a nesting curlew in the mulch is lovely. They camouflage
themselves well, but obviously not well enough for some to seek them out and
hurt them.
I wonder that the increase in dog ownership on the Northern Beaches hasn't
affected more of them as no matter how good they are able to camouflage
themselves, dogs will find them simply out of smell.
It is such a shame to see a really charismatic bird targeted on several fronts.
Inger Vandyke Natural History Writer and Photographer Publicity Officer -
Southern Oceans Seabird Study Association (SOSSA) Mob: 0402 286 437
www.ingervandyke.com > Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:56:28 +1100> Subject: Re:
[Birding-Aus] Bush stone curlew in Five Dock> From: >
To: > > Hello,> > Tragic story, hardly atypical. As
anyone with half an eye can attest,> this happens every ten minutes and more
across the continent (and much> further afield of course). Sadly most twitchers
are not there to witness> such events.> > Council environment officers being in
a position to actually police the> actions of dog owners is probably a fantasy
that belongs deep in the past,> if there ever was a time when such an idea was
a possibility.> > Dogs and their owners OWN the continent effectively: in the
Hunter region,> for example, they occupy every single space, from bushland to
parkland,> beaches to national parks and of course their own little “private”>
off-leash areas. Nothing is "policed" and probably never was: yet we have>
people like Adrian Franklin and many more academics asserting that the>
"eco-nationalists" are waging a war that might best be described as>
"species-cleansing" based on their ecologicaly fascistic fantasies.> > Funny
old world.> > cheers> > Craig> Hunter region> > > > Alistair et al> >> >
Perhaps in situations like this we should be more "proactive" (I hate that> >
word). We could have alerted Council's environment officer when the bird> >
turned up and alerted him/her to the danger of dog attack. Then a ranger> > may
have been posted to police dogs off leashes (against the law except in> > some
areas). Wise in hindsight but a lesson for the future maybe.> > Apologies in
advance to anyone who may have taken such action.> >> > Paul> >> >> > -----
Original Message -----> > From: "Carl Clifford" <>> > To:
"Alistair McKeough" <>> > Cc: "birdingaus"
<>> > Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008 3:27 PM> >
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Bush stone curlew in Five Dock> >> >> >> Alistair,>
>>> >> I think the media needs to be brought in on this, perhaps by Birds> >>
Australia as it has happened virtually in their back yard. Perhaps the> >>
publicity might get a message through to a few dog owners to take some> >>
responsibility for their four-legged faeces factories and hopefully> >> lessen
the chances of similar attacks occurring. Hopefully the Stone-> >> curlew can
be found and placed in the care of WIRES or similar, though> >> after an attack
like that I don't like its chances of survival.> >>> >> Carl Clifford> >>> >>
On 15/02/2008, at 3:09 PM, Alistair McKeough wrote:> >>> >>> Nevil Lazarus has
asked me to let people know that yesterday the bush> >>> stone> >>> curlew was
attacked by a dog.> >>>> >>> Although Nevil was able to chase away the dog the
bird would appear to> >>> have> >>> be seriously injured.> >>>> >>> Nevil's
exact words were:> >>>> >>> "I went there yesterday, and found it sitting next
to the cricket> >>> nets.> >>> I> >>> watched it for an hour or so, and it then
walked to a fence adjacent> >>> to> >>> the> >>> creek, next to the path. It
stood there for a while, and then lay down> >>> next> >>> to the fence, which
you can see in the picture attached. I was sitting> >>> on a> >>> bench about
30mt from the bird, waiting for the light to tone down to> >>> get> >>> some
pics in good light - it was 3.45pm.> >>>> >>> A cyclist with a dog approached -
the dog attacked the bird, which,> >>> because> >>> of the fence, could not get
away. I ran and chased the dog, but the> >>> bird> >>> was wedged under the
fence, one leg broken. I eased it out from under> >>> the> >>> fence, and it
hopped and then flew, the leg dangling limply> >>> underneath."> >>>> >>>
Alistair> >>> ===============================> >>> www.birding-aus.org> >>>
birding-aus.blogspot.com> >>>> >>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,> >>>
send the message:> >>> unsubscribe> >>> (in the body of the message, with no
Subject line)> >>> to: > >>>
===============================> >>> >> ===============================> >>
www.birding-aus.org> >> birding-aus.blogspot.com> >>> >> To unsubscribe from
this mailing list, send the message:> >> unsubscribe (in the body of the
message, with no Subject line)> >> to: > >>
===============================> >>> >> > ===============================> >
www.birding-aus.org> > birding-aus.blogspot.com> >> > To unsubscribe from this
mailing list,> > send the message:> > unsubscribe> > (in the body of the
message, with no Subject line)> > to: > >
===============================> >> > > ===============================>
www.birding-aus.org> birding-aus.blogspot.com> > To unsubscribe from this
mailing list, > send the message:> unsubscribe > (in the body of the message,
with no Subject line)> to: >
===============================
_________________________________________________________________
What are you waiting for? Join Lavalife FREE
http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Flavalife9%2Eninemsn%2Ecom%2Eau%2Fclickthru%2Fclickthru%2Eact%3Fid%3Dninemsn%26context%3Dan99%26locale%3Den%5FAU%26a%3D30288&_t=764581033&_r=email_taglines_Join_free_OCT07&_m=EXT==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
=============================
|
