This is definitely not an annual event. The consensus is no one has ever
seen anything like it. One Ouyen local told me his wife was arranging a
mini-bus to take people from the local nursing home down to see the birds as
no one has seen this many in one place.
(I have been having quite a few conversations with Ouyen-ites in the past
month because the VMRG is organising its annual reporting back weekend there
on 23-24 March - send me an email if you want details.)
The nearest I can get to a similar sighting is that some of our members once
saw about 12 malleefowl feeding in the same place in a clearing at the
southern end of Wandown FFR in the early evening.
The prevailing wisdom is the malleefowl are feeding on canola thrown off the
grain trucks, but my Dad told me someone had dissected a road-kill bird and
found mostly native seeds. The bird was apparently in good condition.
Our general view is this is unusual behaviour and therefore it's probably
not a good sign, but we don't know. The birds have had 3 very good breeding
seasons after the improved rains, but this past season has been the best
despite a dry winter.
Here's a couple of links to stories about the sightings.
The ABC one includes an interview with Colleen Barnes from Ned's Corner who
talk the now-famous photo.
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/02/11/3687952.htm
This one from the Weekly Times aka the pink comic book includes a quote
which completely misrepresents what I told the reporter - but fortunately
they've published my comment to correct the record.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2013/02/15/559885_national-news.html
Cheers,
Ross Macfarlane
Secretary
Victorian Malleefowl Recovery Group, Inc.
www.malleefowlvictoria.org.au
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Jackson
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 8:12 PM
To: Birding-Aus
Subject: Malleefowl Bonanza
A quick trip north to look for the reported Malleefowl along the
Ouyen-Patchewollock Rd, was most successful. We saw 35 malleefowl feeding
along the road between 6:15pm and 6:45pm. The birds were mainly in singles
and pairs, with one group of three. The next morning we saw 8 Malleefowl
along the same stretch of road at about 8:30am. I suspect that there would
have been more birds earlier. To see so many of these enigmatic birds was an
exciting and highly recommended birding experience.
I do, however, have some questions. The birds were feeding on what I presume
is spilt grain along with many Common Bronzewing Pigeons, Mallee Ringnecks
and Red-rumped Parrots. Is this Malleefowl gathering an annual occurrence
which has gone unreported in the past or a unique event? Is this large
number of Malleefowl the result of a few years successful breeding who are
now struggling after our current hot dry summer? We saw 35 Malleefowl along
a 10km stretch of road. This seems to be a high population density. Is this
usual or are the birds travelling large distances for an 'easy' feed?
I would be most interested to hear other birders' opinions on what is
happening here. When I think of my previous efforts to spot a Malleefowl!
Philip Jackson
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