Ha! I don't remember that - but my friends and family will complain to you
if given the chance, that I often complain or compliment movie or TV show
producers that get "the wrong/right birds" in the soundtrack!
++++++++++++
Dr Lawrie Conole
Tylden Vic 3444
Australia
lconole [at] gmail.com
On 23 April 2017 at 08:28, David Clark <> wrote:
> Lawrie
>
> Interesting observations. I can't say that I've seen anything like that.
> However, I do have a memory of you identifying a Blackbird call in the
> background soundtrack of a play about William Buckley!
>
> Cheers
>
> David
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On 22 Apr 2017, at 10:15 pm, Lawrie Conole <> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks Philip.
> >
> > That's where simple abundance measures from a location don't really tell
> > the whole story. The relative abundance of resident blackbirds in Tylden
> is
> > the same today as it was yesterday - except that a significant number of
> > non local birds moved through and out. If I hadn't been out walking the
> dog
> > I'd be none the wiser!
> >
> > There are various locations around here that are 100-300m higher in
> > altitude (so up towards 1000m). I surmise that any blackbirds that are on
> > the move have come from altitude.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Lawrie
> >
> >
> >> On Sat, 22 Apr 2017 at 21:45, Philip Veerman <>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Abundance of the Common Blackbird is almost constant in Canberra.
> Minimal
> >> change through the year (as from the results of 21 years of our Garden
> >> Birds
> >> Survey, as in my book). And that variation is entirely explainable by
> >> changes in levels of conspicuousness. No suggestion of any regular
> >> movements
> >> in or out of our region. Similar results from the ACT Bird Atlas. In
> marked
> >> contrast to the many native species that show very strong seasonal or
> >> monthly changes in abundance due to migrations.
> >>
> >> Philip
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Birding-Aus On
> Behalf
> >> Of
> >> Lawrie Conole
> >> Sent: Saturday, 22 April, 2017 1:22 PM
> >> To:
> >> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Blackbird migratory behaviour in Australia?
> >>
> >> Hi birders
> >>
> >> Back in 2004 on Birding-Aus I wrote this:
> >>
> >> "... /Some musing on that feral pest the Common Blackbird (Turdus
> >> merula) in Victoria, Australia ..../
> >>
> >> /A couple of observations this Autumn have me wondering whether some
> >> proportion of the Victorian Blackbird population might be migratory -
> >> even if its just the kind of altitudinal migration seen in various
> >> indigenous birds here. Let me elaborate .../
> >>
> >> /At two sites I've visited in the last fortnight, I've come across
> >> groups of Blackbirds (about 10 birds in each case) roosting/resting in
> >> isolated patches of vegetation in farmland during the day. In one case
> >> the patch was a cluster of pines in a vast dry grassy paddock, no
> >> understorey - very un-Blackbird-like habitat (Craigieburn, northern
> >> Melbourne). The others were laid up in a mess of Spanish Heath (Erica
> >> lusitanica) underneath remnant Swamp Gums (Eucalyptus ovata) in farmland
> >> (south of Colac, northern Otway Ranges foothills). Both sites were at
> >> about 200m above sea level, and perhaps less than 50km from more upland
> >> forest (>500m ASL). In both cases they flushed in groups, and didn't
> >> give the characteristic Blackbird cackle that usually accompanies such
> >> disturbance./
> >>
> >> /This seems vaguely like migrant behaviour to me. Thrushes like these
> >> often migrate at night in their natural range, and lay up in various
> >> copses of vegetation during the day. In the Craigieburn example, several
> >> migrant Grey Fantails were noted in an adjacent patch in the paddock./
> >>
> >> /I'd be interested in any comments on this matter. Does anyone live in
> >> an upland kind of place with fluctuating Blackbird numbers which might
> >> suggest regular short - medium distance movements? Any other similar
> >> observations? The 'big picture' data presented in the New Atlas
> >> publication are not finely resolved enough to address this question -
> >> particularly if only some Blackbirds are migrating/moving/ ...".
> >>
> >>
> >> There wasn't much of a response, and nothing to corroborate my musings.
> >> So until today I hadn't thought about it much since. This morning
> >> pre-dawn when I went outside briefly (Tylden, central Victoria, ~600m
> >> above sea level) there was an unusual amount of Blackbird noise - more
> >> than I'd expect from our apparently resident pair. Out walking with the
> >> dog a few hours later, around 10am, I saw what could only be Blackbirds
> >> migrating. Over a period of about 5 minutes, I estimated about 40
> >> Blackbirds passed through in a loose stream, going N/NNE (and therefore
> >> down in altitude) - much as you see with Yellow-faced and White-naped
> >> Honeyeaters when they're migrating - moving from one copse of trees to
> >> another, stopping briefly before heading on. In this case both males and
> >> females.
> >>
> >> So why does it matter? Just a feral pest. It has been frequently stated
> >> in the literature that Australian introduced populations of Blackbirds
> >> are all sedentary. In their native range some populations are migratory.
> >> Does that reflect here then that the source populations are from
> >> different populations in Europe with respect to migration, or are local
> >> environmental conditions just triggering latent migratory behaviour? I
> >> can't help but be interested ...
> >>
> >> If anyone else sees anything similar this autumn, I'd love to hear from
> >> you.
> >>
> >> regards
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> address.html
> >>
> >>
> >> <#*dr.-lawrie-conole*>/Dr. Lawrie Conole/
> >>
> >>
> >> Tylden 3444, Victoria
> >> Australia
> >>
> >> lconole[at]gmail.com
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> > Dr. Lawrie Conole
> > Tylden 3444 Australia
> >
> > lconole |at| gmail.com
> > <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>
>
<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>
|
