Hi Jenny and David,
The Magpie Goose recolonised New South Wales in the early 1980s and I
documented this in a paper in the Australian Birds journal. We have had
Geese in northern New South Wales ever since but there have been short
periods when they have been hard to find. In the early days we did get
flocks of 400+ but in recent years a maximum flock of 120+ has been normal.
This number usually includes recently fledged juveniles as the species
breeds regularly in the Coldstream Wetlands near Ulmarra.
At the same time as the species was naturally recolonising New South Wales
captive bred birds, apparently originating from the Victorian captive
population, were released at the Wetlands Centre at Shortland, in the Hunter
Valley. This was unfortunate as it muddied the water with respect to
monitoring a natural recolonisation event. Captive breeding and release is
not always the best method to recover populations of fauna. It should only
be used when all other in-situ actions have been taken and have failed. It
is also useless releasing captive-bred fauna into areas where the impacts
that caused the extinction are still present. Anyway I will stop my rant
now on that topic but as you may have gathered I was bitterly disappointed
with the release at such a critical time.
Regards
Greg
Dr Greg. P. Clancy
Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide
| PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460
| 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960
http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com
http://gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au/
-----Original Message-----
From: David Clark
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 9:16 PM
To: Jenny Spry
Cc: birding-aus
Subject: Magpie Geese in Victoria query
Jenny
Goose Lagoon near Yambuk got its name from the flocks of Magpie Geese that
lived there.
I just read through Harry Frith's Magpie Goose chapter and he doesn't
mention their travel habits. However, he does mention fifteen irruptions
to southern Australia between 1888 and 1967, each following droughts in the
Northern Territory. Interestingly, he discusses the attraction of
concentrations of geese and the tendency of groups to follow other groups
to night time roosts.
Cheers
David
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