In the case of the flying foxes, it's a pity we don't know enough about their
movements to pinpoint the lost habitat. People's anger at their presence could
then be redirected to those involved in the clearing.
I don't think many people are annoyed by lorikeets like they are by flying
foxes. Provided they aren't right by their house, they're welcomed, and even
then many are prepared to put up with the noise.
Peter Shute
Sent from my iPad
> On 18 Dec. 2016, at 12:02 pm, Chris Lloyd <> wrote:
>
> If I was a betting man, that's where my money might be. The combination of
> Chris and Andy's greening of the city over the last 50+ years and the
> concomitant reduction in forestry cover on the slopes (particularly western)
> could be the reason. Somewhat ironic but not for long as LGAs move to shift
> the FF 'menace' such was the case in Sutherland and that pinnacle of
> Australian indigenous flora - the RBG.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Shute
> Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2016 6:10 AM
> To: Andy Burton <>
> Cc: Chris Lloyd <>; Birding Aus
> <>
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Musk Lorikeets in Sydney and species diversity
>
> This sounds like good news for Musk Lorikeets, but I'm wondering if the
> numbers visiting increasingly attractive Sydney suburbs might also be driven
> by deforestation elsewhere. That seems to be the situation with flying foxes.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On 17 Dec. 2016, at 5:13 pm, Andy Burton <> wrote:
>>
>> Haha, I’ve been lurking Chris, and involved in other projects.
>>
>> Re the change in vegetation, particularly canopy:
>>
>> In the Lane Cove, Roseville, Lindfield, Killara area, especially around
>> Fiddens Wharf Road, the timber getters had moved in during 1804 and had
>> taken all the timber that they wanted by 1819. After this there were various
>> horticultural and animal husbandry projects set up by individuals. Post WW2,
>> the ridges were built on and ridgetop birds e.g.., White-throated Gerygone,
>> disappeared. Where I live, on the ridge overlooking the short Blue Gum Creek
>> tributary of the Lane Cove River, there were three small dairies and a rifle
>> range alongside the creek. It is still possible to see where the rifle range
>> existed until it was decommissioned in 1965. At the risk of stating the
>> bleedin' obvious it is not possible to have a rifle range in the middle of a
>> forest, and so it was not until 1965 that eucalyptus regrowth commenced.
>> That forest is now dense and quite mature, as are the areas where the
>> dairies (and their cattle) were. At about the same time many of the
>> tributaries of the Willoughby, North Sydney, southern Kuingai and Ryde
>> municipalities were reserved allowing for the regeneration of vegetation
>> along these narrow reserves of the valley bottoms. At about the same time a
>> local nursery must have marketed Flooded Gums Eucalyptus grandis to the
>> local populace and so in places, that species has joined the regenerating
>> Blackbutts and Blue Gums.to create a new canopy. It is my belief that this
>> is what has recently attracted Musk Lorikeets to the area and for a few
>> years I have predicted that the species will become a common breeding
>> resident throughout most of northern Sydney.
>>
>> Andy
>
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