As far as I know (I used to do some volunteer work there, but that was a
couple of years back) the Earth Sanctuary has only ever re-introduced
mammals. It is not an area much visited by birders - I tried to persuade
them of the benefits of regular bird surveys but they wanted to charge
admission for us to do so. Of course ownership changed a while back so they
may be more responsive now.
2008/9/30 Margaret Cameron <>
> Thanks Paul
>
> One of the reasons I put my message on birding-aus (and this one too) is
> that I thought it might stimulate more reports, either in the You Yangs or
> close. (Don't tell me, people who have been seeing White-browed Babblers in
> the You Yangs, because I'm not there any more - tell Paul, tell Marilyn
> Hewish for the Geelong Bird Report, tell the Atlas and the Victorian
> Wildlife Atlas, and put it on Birding-aus.)
>
> I have 2 hypotheses
>
> 1 The Little River Earth Sanctuary (Mount Rothwell) is supposed to be
> reintroducing animals that used to be in the area eg platypus. Maybe they
> introduced W B Babblers too and they got away. An enquiry there might be a
> good idea.
>
> 2 Ford has a lot of country on the north side and birdwatchers don't go
> inside it. A few years ago they did more works in there making more test
> roads or whatever it is they have. Maybe the babblers were lurking in there
> all the time and when the new works reduced the area of forest they were
> forced to enlarge their range. However Lawrie says he does not think any WB
> Babblers turned up in the surveys done for the environmental management
> plan. (If that's true, Earth Sanctuary seems more likely.)
>
> If I saw a White browed Babbler in the You Yangs I would not believe my
> eyes and just try to turn it into something else. Needless to say if I
> decided it was a WBB I would write notes with a shaking hand then gallop
> back into phone range and ring up as many people as I could find to come and
> have a babbler hunt. (Any photo I took in such a state of excitement would
> probably be a blurred smudge but it would be better than nothing.) Marilyn
> Hewish's reaction is much the same. She has edited the Geelong Bird Report
> since the 1991 issue.
>
> I am told you saw them along Hovell's Creek (this is not in your message) -
> this is private property so if your report is encouraging people to go
> searching there please remind anyone who contacts you to get permission from
> Wooloomanata first. The owners may know if there are any historic records on
> their property though I believe Grey-crowned Babblers would have been more
> likely.
>
> Your paper should include the historic stuff as well as your record and
> Graeme's, and those of anyone else since the 1930's you can find! They are
> not in Belcher's Birds of Geelong. Trevor Pescott in Birds of Geelong (1983)
> mentions references in the Bird Observers Club Monthly Notes, especially a
> report by William Heathcote in December 1943. I have not looked at Ian
> Hore-Lacey's list of birds of the You Yangs which was a supplement to the
> Bird Observer July 1959 because I can't find it in my disorganized library.
>
> These birds seem to be a long way from anywhere but we have been having a
> long and terrible drought, and there also already seem to be some
> distribution anomalies which might be attributed to climate change.
>
> Good luck and I'm eagerly waiting to hear from you again!
>
> Margaret
>
> Margaret Cameron
> 2 Cintra Street
> Eastern Heights, Qld
> Australia 4305
> 07 3282 9151
>
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