Hi fellow birders
Trevor Hampel's recent RFI on the status of blackbirds in QLD is
timely.
Queensland?s blackbird incursion is currently the focus of a public
awareness campaign. This follows concerns raised by the Toowoomba
Bird Observers (TBO) about the satellite breeding populations in
Wilsonton, a western suburb of Toowoomba, and in Highfields, a rural
residential area about 10 km to the north. The campaign is being
co-ordinated through TBO with support from DPI&F?s Biosecurity
Queensland, EPA?s QPWS and Toowoomba City Council. We have set up a
Blackbird Hotline - (07) 4699 4365 or (07) 46330553, and an on-line
reporting facility at www.toowoombabirdobservers.org. There?s also a
Blackbird Survey topic on the website forum.
The pattern of spread in Queensland is proving a bit of an enigma.
Historically, the earliest report was of an adult male in 1986 at
Cooby Dam, one of Toowoomba?s water reservoirs, about 8 km north of
Highfields. Thirteen years passed before another blackbird was
confirmed by TBO members, this time in Wilsonton in December 1999. At
that time only one adult male was seen but a local resident said
there had been a pair around for up to four years and they nested in
his staghorn in 1997. The hen and immature birds were subsequently
killed by currawongs. It appeared the male was the only one left in
Wilsonton for a number of years until two birds were heard singing
and eventually a female/immature was finally reported 31/1/05.
The current situation is that blackbird pairs/populations are
definitely in the Toowoomba region (Wilsonton and Highfields),
Stanthorpe, Dalveen and St George. I?m told Stanthorpe has had them
for at least 6 years but have no historical records supporting this
claim so if anyone can help with actual records I'd be grateful.
Dalveen has apparently had them for at least 3 years according to the
locals. The largest group reported at any one time was five at
Highfields last year and eight at Wilsonton this year.
In the last couple of years, there have also been several reports of
individual birds from other parts of Toowoomba including a juvenile
(dead) at Lake Annand in Rangeville on the eastern side; a male at
South Toowoomba; a male at Middle Ridge on the south eastern
outskirts; and a male close to the CBD. A male was also reported at a
Stockyard Creek property about 15km SE of Toowoomba in the Lockyer
Valley.
Extraordinarily, in 2000, an adult male turned up at Dundabara on
Fraser Island.
There are also unconfirmed but credible reports in the past year or
so from other areas in southern Queensland including Geham (Jan 2008)
(interestingly, this is only about 2 km from Cooby Dam where the
first sighting in 1986 occurred, which begs the question: have they
been present in that neck of the woods all along?), Killarney (2008),
Millmerran (2005) and Chinchilla (2007). The Birds Australia Atlas
data contains the QPWS record from Sundown NP dated 30/9/2004. The
most northern NSW Atlas records (as at Dec 2006) are around Inverell
and Moree. We have also had a reliable report from Tenterfield since
the awareness campaign began last month.
I note also in the Birding-Aus archives that blackbirds have been
reported in Brisbane including a report from Bracken Ridge. However,
I am unsure whether any of these records were ever confirmed or
accepted. If anyone knows the details of these Brisbane reports could
they let me know please?
Based on the current state of knowledge there are probably other
blackbird populations in southern Queensland and we need your ongoing
vigilance and help to locate them. I'd appreciate any other
QLD/northern NSW records - historical or current - that may help
piece together the likely routes blackbirds are using ? and no doubt
will continue to use - to establish these satellite populations in
Queensland.
That will give us a better idea of where to concentrate the campaign
in the search for other populations. We?re particularly interested to
establish the likely route they took to end up in the Toowoomba
region, when the northern front was supposedly only around Glen Innes
at that stage. Surely, there must be breeding populations all the
way in between? Where are they?
If you live in the identified areas so far, I'd like to hear from
anyone willing to assist with confirming and/or monitoring blackbirds
and in any other localities identified in the future. Those
interested in following the unfolding situation in Qld can do so by
visiting the forum on TBO?s website. There's plenty of other local
info, including the 166 species seen so far this year for our annual
Challenge. And for those of you within a 250km radius of Toowoomba
who enjoy a goal and having your sightings count for something, feel
free to register and join in our seasonal species tallies in which we
collectively target a list of 431 species. The boundaries and list of
unreported species is under ?Summer Sightings?. Still a few
embarrassing ones missing and only 3 days to go this season!
Once again, I urge you to report all Qld blackbird sightings as a
matter of course from now on.
Regards
Michael Atzeni
Blackbird Project Co-ordinator
Toowoomba Bird Observers Inc.
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