birding-aus

Otways- Eastern Whipbird, Superb Lyrebird?

To:
Subject: Otways- Eastern Whipbird, Superb Lyrebird?
From:
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:18:52 +1100
Hi Michael,

The Otways has a very limited number of bird species recorded, compared 
with similar wet forest habitats in the East of the state (East of 
Melbourne).

I've never heard of any historical or current records of the two species 
you mention in the Otways, however the book to check is: 

Belcher. Charles F., The Birds of the District of Geelong, Australia, 1914 

 
>From my experience, only the following 'wet forest speciality' species 
exist in the Otways:   Olive Whistler, Rufous Fantail, Satin Bowerbird, 
Bassian Thrush, Pink and Rose Robin.

 A number of other wet forest species that you'd expect to find, 
(Red-browed Treecreeper, Large-billed Scrubwren, Lewins Honeyeater, Doves, 
Gerygones etc), just dont seem to like it!. 

Its a real mystery to me why more species dont inhabit the Otway Ranges. 
Whether its a soil type/vegetation thing, a predatory reason, or something 
else. 

I remember reading once that the regional aboriginal tribe, the 
Wauthaurong (whose territory bordered the Otway Ranges), had myths 
describing the people that inhabited the otway ranges as lawless 
cannibals, and it was forbidden for anyone to enter the ranges. 

I think the group of humans that lived in the otways were more closely 
related to the Tasmanian aboriginals and probably had a different set of 
stories and law that governed their use of the environment.  I wonder if 
they used birds as a primary food source and hunted a number of species to 
extintcion that have just never returned???

Anyway...i'm just theorising now...hopefully someone else might have some 
better answers. 

Peter 



 





Michael Todd <> 
Sent by: 
28/02/2008 04:35 PM
Please respond to



To

cc

Subject
[Birding-Aus] Otways- Eastern Whipbird, Superb Lyrebird?






Hello all,

I'm currently writing a couple of lectures on Tasmanian birds. One of 
the papers that I've read is one by Ridpath and Moreau 1966 (in Ibis 
108: 348-393) in which they compare the avifauna of Victoria and 
Tasmania. They mention that the Eastern Whipbird and Superb Lyrebird do 
not occur in the Otway Ranges of Vic.

They say that the significance of this is that it shows that there were 
other factors responsible for the relatively depauperate Tasmanian 
avifauna than simply Bass Strait. ie. that there were habitat reasons 
for why some forest birds didn't occur everywhere during the last 12,000 
years or so.

Not having a great deal of experience in Victoria birds, can anyone 
confirm or deny that the Eastern Whipbird and Superb Lyrebird occur in 
the Otways?

Cheers

Mick Todd


-- 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Todd
Wildlifing: Images of Nature: www.wildlifing.com
Latest Images: Macquarie Island- King Penguin
PhD Candidate- Tasmanian Masked Owl
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 05, Hobart, 
Tasmania 7001
Mobile: o458 394676


===============================
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: 
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU