Hi Russ,
FYI I've just put this up this report of 3 Barbary Dove at Maddox st,
Williamstown. See report below.
As Sean mentioned, it's up to you whether you want to tick this plastic.
I'm sitting on the fence with this one. It remains to be seen whether
there's a proven population that has been self-sustaining for more than
ten years. You could probably argue a case for the 'Greater Melbourne
area' being a proven population. This is the reason that it appears in
the Christidis & Boles 2008 Australian checklist.
You could always tick it now and worry about definitions later. For this
reason I tracked down a pair of breeding Barbary Dove (which is about as
good as it get's for this species).
Cheers,
Tim
__________________________
Species: Barbary Dove
Date: 02/09/2008
Site: Maddox st, Williamstown
Region: Australia: Victoria
Notes: Was in the area so checked out fishing villiage at end of
Maddox st. At least 3 Barbary Doves easily located by distinctive call.
Am sllightly embarassed to admit putting any effort whatsoever into this
species but some interesting coastal habitat and a number of other birds
made it seem more worthwhile.
Observer: Scott Baker
See BIRDLINE VITORIA - http://www.eremaea.com/
___________________________
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Sean Dooley
Sent: Tuesday, 2 September 2008 2:39 PM
To: 'russ lamb';
Subject: RFI: Song Thrush & Barbary Dove, Melbourne
G'day Russ,
I know you asked for private replies, but I thought members of the list
may be interested (even though the birds you seek are dreaded members of
that subclass of birds, the plastics).
I believe that Song Thrush is declining in the Melbourne area, at least
in the south eastern suburbs as it is no longer heard in many sites
where you could once hear them during their singing season which seemed
to last between July to January. They may be expanding into some
fringing bushland areas as has been posited by others in the past, but I
personally have little personal experience of this.
I suspect that there decline in suburban Melbourne can be attributed to
a decline in their main prey- the humble garden snail. While I have no
data to back this up, and I am sure many Melbournian gardeners would
disagree with me, I reckon that due to both snail baiting and the water
restrictions of the last few years there are simply fewer snails waiting
to be feasted upon.
Another possibility is the explosion of aggressive nectar feeding
species such as wattlebirds, Noisy Miners and Rainbow Lorikeets has
meant that the rather placid Song Thrush is being harassed off their
previous feeding places.
Song Thrush can still be found in the Botanic Gardens, but even there
they are not the automatic dead certs they used to be. On three visits
of an hour or so in August I only saw them twice. I believe they should
be gettable there every time if you are prepared to put a bit of effort
in- I don't know of anywhere else where they can be reliably found at
any time of day. (That is unless, someone has a male singing in their
backyard every morning.)
As to the Barbary Dove, I have serious doubts that there is any evidence
to show that any birds seen in the Melbourne area are legitimately
tickable.
Some people do tick them, and that is up to them, but I don't think
there is a proven population that has been self-sustaining for more than
ten years, and therefore could be considered wild. As far as I
understand, the only population that satisfies this criteria is that in
Adelaide, (the Alice Springs population having been eliminated a few
years back.) from what I understand from Michael Norris' previous posts
on this issue, even the Bayside birds may not be a self-sustaining
population but a series of releases/escapees possibly from the same
aviary.
I certainly don't count any of the Barbary Doves I have seen in
Melbourne (three sightings in twenty years) and bizarrely enough it is
one of the few birds in mainland Australia I still don't have on my
list.
Having said all that, I also reckon that while an unusual range
extension, I have no problem with accepting that the Painted Finches
north of Jerilderie are genuine wild birds as the area they are in is
pretty dry and quite a long way from the any nearby towns. They could be
escapees but this seems to be me the more unlikely scenario. I hope if
they are wild birds they like the area and hang around because I'll be
heading that way in November on my way to the Australian Birdfair at
Leeton.
Sorry for rambling on about such a trivial topic, feel free to resume
your debate about social networking sites!
Sean Dooley
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of russ lamb
Sent: Tuesday, 2 September 2008 9:57 AM
To:
Subject: RFI: Song Thrush & Barbary Dove, Melbourne
I will be in Melbourne from Fri 5th to Mon 15th Sept(attempting Port
Fairy
pelagic) and would appreciate any current, specific info for locating
Song Thrush and Barbary Dove.
Have trawled archives and extracted info about sites like RBG,
Northcote, and Brighton but you can't beat up-to-date info.,particularly
on the dove.
Please reply off-line.
Russ Lamb, Maleny,SEQ
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