Andrew, a fellow Sunshine Coaster,
I go along Hastings Street, Noosa, once a month to access Noosa
Woods, where I conduct evening bird counts. I have noticed an upswing in
the presence of the turkeys as I crawl along Hastings Street, and have
put it down to the tourist industry. Tourists love the turkeys and take
photos of them. And they feed them.
We started our Noosa evening counts back in 2005, and even at that stage
it wasn't so unusual to count up to 17 turkeys patrolling the carpark at
Noosa Woods. At that stage I never saw them in Hastings Street, though,
as I said, I only went there once a month. (Would never go there if I
had my druthers - too many people.) The turkeys are very bold, and
getting bolder, and I really think it is a problem created by the
tourist industry itself. I don't read or hear the local media, but if
they are blaming the turkeys, they are wrong. Wherever tourists gather
in turkey habitat, turkeys will prosper. Same situation at Inskip Point,
on the mainland just south of Fraser Island.
Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51' 41"S 152° 56' 00"E
On 4/12/2010 10:07 AM, Andrew Thelander wrote:
Hi all
Here on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, brush-turkeys are presently Public
Enemy Number One in the local press. Gardeners in Peregian and
restauranteurs in Hastings Street Noosa are up in arms claiming that the
birds are too numerous and aggressive. The Noosa News reports that there is
a “pack” of these feathered dinosaurs that begin patrolling Hastings Street
from 5.30 am. At 6 am they then hit the café scene, running across tables,
swiping French toast etc. Tourists are “shocked” by this gang violence
(Australia was supposed to be safe from terrorists, wasn’t it?).
Fear not, though. An 80 year old gardener has come up with a solution. The
birds need to be captured and then released on Fraser Island where the
dingoes are said to be starving. This, of course, is the old cliché of
“killing two birds with the one stone”.
God help the birds when the local pollies start talking turkey! Here on the
Sunshine Coast, tourism is seen as the goose that lays the golden eggs and
any perceived threats to it receive no sympathy at all.
Andrew
============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
============================
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
