Thanks all for the information. Duly reported to Dept of Agriculture.
Cheers
Andrew
On 30/11/2010 6:36 AM, Mike Owen wrote:
On 29/11/2010 10:01 PM, michael norris wrote:
One is OK - but that is potential half of a breeding pair. They have
not really got away in Australia yet - but we have to return them to
sympathetic vets etc. as soon as possibe. If they get away it could
be devastating to hole-nesting birds.
Michael Norris
-
Ringnecks are believed to have been kept in Australia since the late
19th Century. The first ones were undoubtedly wild caught and
probably wild caught imports continued to arrive until importation of
exotic birds was stopped in the 1950's. From that time the birds
available have been aviary bred.
Ringnecks are the most commonly kept exotic parrot, with current
captive population thought to be well over 500,000 throughout
Australia. The majority bred these days are colour mutations rather
than the wild green colour. They can be a long lived bird - the
oldest authenticated I have heard about died at 68 years, and he was
still breeding at 67.
It is reassuring that in spite of these very large numbers, and the
regular escape of birds over many decades, they have never established
a viable breeding population as they have in Europe. The reasons are
probably firstly that Europe continued to allow wild caught imports
well into the 1990's, and that the wild populations were derived from
escaped wild caught birds - domesticated birds have very poor survival
skills in the wild. And secondly in Europe there are no real
competitors for nest hollows, in Australia there are plenty of
parrots that will out compete a Ringneck for a nest site - A Rainbow
Lorikeet will always win in an argument with a Ringneck.
So, while any escaped ones should be removed form the wild, the
chances of them becoming a pest as in Europe is negligible
cheers,
Mike
Sunshine Coast.
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