birding-aus

Night Parrot.

To: "Allan Richardson" <>
Subject: Night Parrot.
From: "Michael Hunter" <>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2012 09:29:55 +1000
Hi Allan.

Re your concerns about dogs getting spinifex prickles in their paws and snouts and legs.
            You are right, and this was one reason I asked about suitable 
dogs.  Just as Aboriginals develop leather-like soles which can walk on 
spinifex, gravel and hot sand, so can dogs.    Although universally mangy 
and thin, dogs hanging around Aboriginal settlements might be amenable to 
rehabilitation and used as beaters, packs would be better than single 
hounds, if they could be disciplined!
           The dog that flushed the NPs quoted in the Walton article that 
prompted this discussion would have been a working dog and used to spinifex 
and I have seen dingoes in spinifex areas, so that except in the areas of 
thickest spinifex I don't think that this would be a problem with selected 
dogs. Humans can usually walk between spinifex clumps without too much 
trouble in most places.
            Having said that, I would concentrate the search on the 
succulent fields alongside the many salt lakes in the Centre and Southern 
Kimberley, where the chenopods are soft, the shrubbery otherwise fairly 
benign, the sand is soft, and have been the site of various NP sightings. 
Otherwise to concentrate on very limited areas of spinifex with historic or 
recent sightings.
             This is still a along way from being a done deal, and all 
suggestions and comments are really welcome.
                                       Cheers

                                              Michael








"There's been a lot of suggestion about the use of dogs to find NP's - but there's this thing that keeps coming to mind......
Those of us who have walked through Porcupine Grass (Spinifex to most) 
without proper protection (I recall my first venture was in Dunlop Volleys - 
oh dear) have paid dearly for the price of not looking before we leapt into 
the stuff.
Wouldn't it be refined torture to send dogs through that stuff to flush 
birds?? Prickles in the nose, paws and legs. Has someone tried this and the 
dogs magically avoid the sharp spines" 

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