RFI Sydney Red-whiskered Bulbul - and RWBs in Melbourne

["michael norris" <>]

Like!

Chris Charles has clearly got it wrong about the "ONE thing NSW has over 
Vic???"  - I had never heard of A. portuensis before and that is a very 
seriously rare plant.  I wonder what other associated plants have gone for 
ever.
As to the RWBs, I wonder why they seem to have disappeared from Melbourne.

In my area Roy Wheeler recorded the species in the 1940s and they were 
around, particularly at one location around George St, Sandringham in the 
1990s up to 1996 (including a nest).
I am aware of other Melbourne records from 2002 and 2010 of single birds in 
St Kilda and Ferntree Gully.
However, it is still kept as an aviary species (less popular than in the 
past?) so that might account for the decline in observations.  Or is there 
an ecological reason?  I remember a suggestion that with climate change the 
population would grow.
Michael Norris
Bayside, Melbourne