I've just had a telephone conversation with a neighbour about the use of
transmitters on birds. For some time now she has had two banded Rainbow
Lorikeets carrying transmitter packs visiting the balcony of her upper level
apartment in inner Sydney on a daily basis. I could not tell from her
description of the packs if they were transmitters that sent signals to a
hand-held receiver or to satellites. The neighbour contacted me because she
did not know what these packs were, lives alone and wondered if they were
miniature cameras put on lorikeets by someone who wanted to spy on her! She
was initially very upset, wanted to know who she should contact about the
person spying on her, but was much more relaxed once I had explained to her
the purposes of animal telemetry and the reasons for its use. I know this
person quite well and she is not neurotic, just highly uneducated about
wildlife survey techniques. While this is a humorous story, it does
demonstrate the importance for individual researchers, particularly those
who conduct research in urban areas, to publicise and explain their research
to the general community. Otherwise, it could lead to all sorts of
misconceptions and perhaps give research a bad reputation.
Stephen Ambrose
Ryde NSW
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