How serious can people be about Grey Fantail? Seriously....... How many
Australians would even know the name, let alone the bird? And (close to) no
one outside Australia does. As for whether it is endemic, well does it
matter? Very similar other species are in other countries. How Australian
does it have to be? How many other countries have an eagle as their emblem?
The southern cross on our flag is not even part of our solar
system.........the closest star is 88 light-years from Earth, the furthest
364 light-years away. At a quick look at the below site on wikipedia shows
that many of the national birds are not endemic to the specific nation (as
not many nations are islands).
Back to Martin's question. Surely most people already think the Emu & Red
Kangaroo are our national symbols. Why bother selecting something else? The
question is - what official standing does the Emu have as a "National Bird".
Going by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_birds apparently it
doesn't but what does that mean? If not, what is the administrative process
to confirm this......... Why would any other species achieve any lesser
administrative malaise? According to that list the Kiwi is not officially
the National Bird of New Zealand either.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Martin Butterfield
Sent: Friday, 20 March 2015 7:10 PM
To: birding-aus NEW
Subject: National Bird
I had assumed it was the Emu as it features on our Coat of Arms. However I
can't find anything authoritative which confirms this or offers an
alternative.
Surely we have one? If not, I cry 'Shime, shime " and ask what can be done
and by whom to get one. (For various reasons, if starting from scratch, my
pick would be Galah.)
Martin Butterfield
http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>
|
