Re Jim Tate's story:
One W.A. objection to the construction of the Trans-Continental
Railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie was that Sparrows and Starlings
might follow the construction gangs (all horse transport in those days,
pre 1914) to the detriment of wheat and other crops in WA. The railway
was built eastward way out into the deserts, and all the horses
withdrawn and all feed cleared up, before the construction teams started
working west from South Australia.
WA is still Sparrow-free.
Anthea Fleming
On 16/06/2014 6:24 AM, Jim Tate wrote:
Bringing the (Spanish) Sparrow discussion back to Australia for the
moment....
On three trips to the Brisbane area in the last ten years I was
surprised by the low numbers and small size of the /Passer /sp. around
town. Here in Washington, DC they are large, dirty, and everywhere.
Perhaps Brisbane is just cleaner than DC so there is less to eat. I
know that in Brisbane they can't sit around smoking butts off the
ground like they can in DC. Or maybe it is something else that keeps
their numbers and size down. I am reminded that in England the /P.
domesticus/ appear to be dropping in numbers and distribution.
Conventional wisdom blames the decline in horses, also essentially
absent in DC.
I am reminded of a story I once read of an ornithologist that took a
trip across Europe and Asia by horse cart. Somewhere in the steppes of
Russia he stopped and shot all of the House Sparrows following his
horse cart to prevent a range extension. Probably apocryphal. -TATE
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