RFI – Song Thrush records

Hello birders Following on from the recent inconclusive chat about the decline or demise of Birding-Aus, let’s put it to the test – how useful is the old list for things other than twitching headlines!!?? I’m in the process of analysing non-urban records of the introduced Song Thrush (*Turdus philomelos*) from Victoria, with a view to publishing the results later this year. There aren’t a lot of records in the various databases (I know I’m guilty of not logging a couple of my exurban records of this species). I’m interested to hear about any confirmed records of Song Thrushes, which are to the best of your knowledge not logged in a database (BirdLife atlas, eBird, Atylas of Living Australia, etc.), and which are from areas either on the fringe of Melbourne or Geelong or in rural or natural areas. Despite what the field guides, etc. say, the Song Thrush is not restricted to Geelong and Melbourne. There are very old records resulting from deliberate releases in places like Ballarat and Hamilton – where the birds are probably now locally extinct. Leaving aside the odd confusion with Bassian Thrush (*Zoothera lunulata*), there are a few dozen records from the Otway Ranges (SW Victoria) and out on to the Gippsland Plain (E Victoria). Tell me your exurban Song Thrush stories. Mail me off-list at lconole@gmail.com & I’ll summarise the records in print later in 2016. thanks in advance Lawrie — Dr. Lawrie Conole Tylden 3444 Australia lconole |at| gmail.com