Hi Michael and others,
It would certainly be an interesting study to see if there is very much
movement of Common Starlings between urban, peri-urban and rural areas of
Australia, particularly in mainland south-eastern Australia. Common
Starlings are still very abundant in rural areas of SE Australia, especially
on the SW Slopes and other areas west of the GDR. I've seen numerous
individual flocks of 200+ Common Starlings swooping prior to roosting in
trees along the Hume and Olympic Highways in 14 years of woodland bird
surveys, and as recently as February this year. Numbers of starlings do seem
to have declined in inner areas of the Sydney metro area, but small
populations do still exist in these areas wherever there is suitable
roosting, nesting and foraging habitat. As I mentioned earlier, though, one
of the major changes to city areas is the design of pest bird-proof
buildings, as well as more efficient food waste management disposal in
public areas. Someone also mentioned that Noisy Miners and Rainbow Lorikeets
may be competitively excluding Starlings from urban areas. This may be true
for lorikeets, but large numbers of Noisy Miners and Common Starlings
co-exist in rural areas. I suspect Rainbow Lorikeets could be competitively
excluding Common Starlings from tree hollows in some urban parks and remnant
bushland in Sydney, but I believe that the demolition of a lot of old
buildings and replacement with more modern buildings that are designed to be
bird pest-proof is the major contribution to the decline in numbers in CBD
centres of Sydney. One might expect recruitment of Common Starling
populations in peri-urban areas of Sydney with birds dispersing from large
populations in rural areas, but there may also be some birds dispersing from
inner city areas too. If these inner city populations are declining because
of reduced opportunities to breed, then you may not have as many individuals
dispersing into peri-urban areas. A lot of my consultancy work these days
is focusing on impacts of urban development on bird populations, especially
in Sydney, and the provision of strategic advice for making cities more
suitable for native bird species and less suitable for aggressive introduced
species.
Stephen Ambrose
Principal Onithologist
Ambrose Ecological Services Pty Ltd
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus <> On Behalf Of Michael
Hunter
Sent: 1 August 2020 11:30 AM
To:
Cc: <> <>
Subject: Starlings
Interesting Geoff,
Tassie could be their ultimate outpost! Despite the
reports, oversell numbest in Sydney have visibly declined. No one is
actually counting as far as I know.
Population Theory include boom:/bust scenarios,
particularly in introduced situations. The European decline will ultimately
derive from human activity I suspect.
Best
Michael
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