birding-aus

Malleefowl Bonanza

To: Ross Macfarlane <>
Subject: Malleefowl Bonanza
From: Carl Clifford <>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:05:02 +1100
Ross,

That is an incredible photo on the Weakly Timed site.

Cheers,

Carl Clifford


On 28/02/2013, at 11:27, "Ross Macfarlane" <> wrote:

> 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: [Birding-Aus] 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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