Hi all, If anyone’s heading to Wyperfeld National Park (Vic), Matthew Crawford has just photographed a family of Mallee Emu-wren along the Discovery Walk, see http://www.eremaea.com. Remarkably he found the birds in an area of open tea-tree woodland – although there are some stands of triodia nearby, he was some distance from significant area of triodia. Despite extensive previous surveys of Wyperfeld there’s have been very reports of Mallee Emu-wren, and their presence along the Discovery Walk seems to me to be new and remarkable. In fact when I first heard about it I’d dismissed as miss-ID’d eclipsed Splendid or Variegated Fairy-wren. So I’m currently eating humble pie! Why are they there now? Migration, population expansion, or perhaps displacement due to fires? Cheers, Tim This email, including any attachment, is intended solely for the use of the intended recipient. It is confidential and may contain personal information or be subject to legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use, disclosure, reproduction or storage of it is unauthorised. If you have received this email in error, please advise the sender via return email and delete it from your system immediately. Victoria University does not warrant that this email is free from viruses or defects and accepts no liability for any damage caused by such viruses or defects.
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Hi all It’s great that these birds have been found at Wyperfeld, but it’s a bit odd that they aren’t around spinifex. Could be that this population is doomed no matter what we do. Of course we need to put in as much effort as possible to save them, but to be honest more effort should be put into saving the remaining populations of birds at Hattah & the Sunset Country because this is the core of their range. If we cannot stop the damage of spinifex, particularly from fires this species is doomed. There are heaps of ‘twitchers’ who go to Hattah to look at the Emu-wrens there. I would have thought if there were any problems with twitchers their affect would have been felt at Hattah, however they are fortunately still there & every effort should be put in to protect the species there, particularly from fire. So if we are going to reduce the impact of birders disturbing this species it should be at Hattah, not Wyperfeld. As it stands though I don’t see the impact of birders as a problem, the main problem is the lack of profile this & other mallee species have.-Kevin Bartram
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has anyone anything to offer re Mallee Emu-Wrens in the western Big Desert area?? thanx, martin cachard, cairns CC: rmacfarl@tpg.com.au; mcachard@hotmail.com; tim.dolby@vu.edu.au; birding-aus@birding-aus.org We all know of course Kev that the real problem is the photographers! Only joking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whilst it is inevitable that birders, twitchers and photographers do disturb birds not matter how careful they are, without them we would not know much about the birds of this country and I dare say many of them also do their bit for conservation efforts. On 22 September 2014 21:24, Kev Lobotomi < kevlobotomi@hotmail.com> wrote: It just seems so easy to have a go at twitchers these days. I dont see much evidence that twitchers do too much damage in this country. Why not have a go at a multitude of other groups that do so much more damage to the environment than twitchers do. Kev — Original Message — Sent: 22 September 2014 6:17 PM Well in this case Kevin I would have to disagree. I don’t think “one would hope” is enough reason to ignore the risk caused by a sudden increase in the human population density. I’m not proposing to close the walking track off, just to discourage a sudden influx of numbers until we understand what the impact might be. There are other places where the Mallee emu-wren can be found. Cheers, Ross Macfarlane —–Original Message—– Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 5:54 PM birding-aus@birding-aus.org Since twitchers have been going there for 40 years looking for the only twitchable population of redthroat in Victoria and despite this the redthroat still survives there one would hope it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. Kevin bartram — Original Message — Sent: 22 September 2014 5:45 PM < tim.dolby@vu.edu.au>, birding-aus@birding-aus.org Folks, this is tremendous news and potentially a really significant boost to the survival chances of the Mallee emu-wren, as when Sarah Brown completed her PhD a few years ago she was unable to locate any populations outside of the Murray-Sunset / Hattah-Kulkyne complex, as it was generally believed the populations in Ngarkat had been decimated by the fires in the early 2000s. Since she also found they had very poor rates of dispersal, to find a population here really is wonderful news as just maybe a small cryptic population has been hanging on in a place no one had expected to find them. I would just like to add though: can we please not have a mad rush of twitchers going looking for them in this place, at least and until someone has been able to have a quiet look and see how many there are and how viable this population is? This is one of our most vulnerable bird species, as the MS/HK population is the last stronghold, and it could be wiped out overnight by a big fire in the wrong place. This new population has the chance to change the picture for this species’ survival, so please can we not muck it up until we know how safe it is in this new location… Yours in stipiturid sincerity, Ross Macfarlane —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 8:47 AM hey Tim, that’s such wonderful news!! many moons ago I stumbled upon a family party of Mallee Emu-Wrens at Big Billy Bore, further west in the northern Big Desert in the early 1980’s… I was in the area looking for Red-lored Whistlers. the habitat was very thick Broombrush-heath with very sparse small patches of spinifex, so it seems they don’t mind sparse spinifex as a habitat preference… i’m not sure how long it’s been since they have been recorded in the Big Desert. cheers, martin cachard, cairns
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We all know of course Kev that the real problem is the photographers! Only joking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whilst it is inevitable that birders, twitchers and photographers do disturb birds not matter how careful they are, without them we would not know much about the birds of this country and I dare say many of them also do their bit for conservation efforts.
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Hi Ross, Not trying to flame the debate but who is going to be the lucky person who is allowed to go and see them? Who makes that decision? Is Sarah Brown able to get out there and survey the whole area solo quickly enough to make a difference? Would a Birdlife co-ordinated survey outing into that area be a good place to start? Or would letting some twitchers get out there be the fastest way to fill in more pieces of the puzzle? Not trying to stir – these are legitimate questions. Cheers David On 22/09/2014, at 6:17 PM, “Ross Macfarlane” < rmacfarl@tpg.com.au> wrote:
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Nowingi would still be a better bet for this species anyway, wouldn’t it? Peter Shute Sent from my iPad
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It just seems so easy to have a go at twitchers these days. I dont see much evidence that twitchers do too much damage in this country. Why not have a go at a multitude of other groups that do so much more damage to the environment than twitchers do. Kev — Original Message — Sent: 22 September 2014 6:17 PM Well in this case Kevin I would have to disagree. I don’t think “one would hope” is enough reason to ignore the risk caused by a sudden increase in the human population density. I’m not proposing to close the walking track off, just to discourage a sudden influx of numbers until we understand what the impact might be. There are other places where the Mallee emu-wren can be found. Cheers, Ross Macfarlane —–Original Message—– Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 5:54 PM birding-aus@birding-aus.org Since twitchers have been going there for 40 years looking for the only twitchable population of redthroat in Victoria and despite this the redthroat still survives there one would hope it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. Kevin bartram — Original Message — Sent: 22 September 2014 5:45 PM < tim.dolby@vu.edu.au>, birding-aus@birding-aus.org Folks, this is tremendous news and potentially a really significant boost to the survival chances of the Mallee emu-wren, as when Sarah Brown completed her PhD a few years ago she was unable to locate any populations outside of the Murray-Sunset / Hattah-Kulkyne complex, as it was generally believed the populations in Ngarkat had been decimated by the fires in the early 2000s. Since she also found they had very poor rates of dispersal, to find a population here really is wonderful news as just maybe a small cryptic population has been hanging on in a place no one had expected to find them. I would just like to add though: can we please not have a mad rush of twitchers going looking for them in this place, at least and until someone has been able to have a quiet look and see how many there are and how viable this population is? This is one of our most vulnerable bird species, as the MS/HK population is the last stronghold, and it could be wiped out overnight by a big fire in the wrong place. This new population has the chance to change the picture for this species’ survival, so please can we not muck it up until we know how safe it is in this new location… Yours in stipiturid sincerity, Ross Macfarlane —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 8:47 AM hey Tim, that’s such wonderful news!! many moons ago I stumbled upon a family party of Mallee Emu-Wrens at Big Billy Bore, further west in the northern Big Desert in the early 1980’s… I was in the area looking for Red-lored Whistlers. the habitat was very thick Broombrush-heath with very sparse small patches of spinifex, so it seems they don’t mind sparse spinifex as a habitat preference… i’m not sure how long it’s been since they have been recorded in the Big Desert. cheers, martin cachard, cairns
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Well in this case Kevin I would have to disagree. I don’t think “one would hope” is enough reason to ignore the risk caused by a sudden increase in the human population density. I’m not proposing to close the walking track off, just to discourage a sudden influx of numbers until we understand what the impact might be. There are other places where the Mallee emu-wren can be found. Cheers, Ross Macfarlane —–Original Message—– Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 5:54 PM birding-aus@birding-aus.org Since twitchers have been going there for 40 years looking for the only twitchable population of redthroat in Victoria and despite this the redthroat still survives there one would hope it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. Kevin bartram — Original Message — Sent: 22 September 2014 5:45 PM < tim.dolby@vu.edu.au>, birding-aus@birding-aus.org Folks, this is tremendous news and potentially a really significant boost to the survival chances of the Mallee emu-wren, as when Sarah Brown completed her PhD a few years ago she was unable to locate any populations outside of the Murray-Sunset / Hattah-Kulkyne complex, as it was generally believed the populations in Ngarkat had been decimated by the fires in the early 2000s. Since she also found they had very poor rates of dispersal, to find a population here really is wonderful news as just maybe a small cryptic population has been hanging on in a place no one had expected to find them. I would just like to add though: can we please not have a mad rush of twitchers going looking for them in this place, at least and until someone has been able to have a quiet look and see how many there are and how viable this population is? This is one of our most vulnerable bird species, as the MS/HK population is the last stronghold, and it could be wiped out overnight by a big fire in the wrong place. This new population has the chance to change the picture for this species’ survival, so please can we not muck it up until we know how safe it is in this new location… Yours in stipiturid sincerity, Ross Macfarlane —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 8:47 AM hey Tim, that’s such wonderful news!! many moons ago I stumbled upon a family party of Mallee Emu-Wrens at Big Billy Bore, further west in the northern Big Desert in the early 1980’s… I was in the area looking for Red-lored Whistlers. the habitat was very thick Broombrush-heath with very sparse small patches of spinifex, so it seems they don’t mind sparse spinifex as a habitat preference… i’m not sure how long it’s been since they have been recorded in the Big Desert. cheers, martin cachard, cairns
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hello all, further to my comment yesterday about Mallee Emu-Wrens in the Big Desert in the early 80’s – i’m curious as to how extensively the area has been searched for them of late… it’s a tremendous amount of remote relatively trackless country that I would imagine could well support any number of them there…??!! by the way Kev, Lake Tyrell has good reliable Redthroats too… cheers, martin cachard, cairns
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Since twitchers have been going there for 40 years looking for the only twitchable population of redthroat in Victoria and despite this the redthroat still survives there one would hope it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. Kevin bartram — Original Message — Sent: 22 September 2014 5:45 PM Folks, this is tremendous news and potentially a really significant boost to the survival chances of the Mallee emu-wren, as when Sarah Brown completed her PhD a few years ago she was unable to locate any populations outside of the Murray-Sunset / Hattah-Kulkyne complex, as it was generally believed the populations in Ngarkat had been decimated by the fires in the early 2000s. Since she also found they had very poor rates of dispersal, to find a population here really is wonderful news as just maybe a small cryptic population has been hanging on in a place no one had expected to find them. I would just like to add though: can we please not have a mad rush of twitchers going looking for them in this place, at least and until someone has been able to have a quiet look and see how many there are and how viable this population is? This is one of our most vulnerable bird species, as the MS/HK population is the last stronghold, and it could be wiped out overnight by a big fire in the wrong place. This new population has the chance to change the picture for this species’ survival, so please can we not muck it up until we know how safe it is in this new location… Yours in stipiturid sincerity, Ross Macfarlane —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 8:47 AM hey Tim, that’s such wonderful news!! many moons ago I stumbled upon a family party of Mallee Emu-Wrens at Big Billy Bore, further west in the northern Big Desert in the early 1980’s… I was in the area looking for Red-lored Whistlers. the habitat was very thick Broombrush-heath with very sparse small patches of spinifex, so it seems they don’t mind sparse spinifex as a habitat preference… i’m not sure how long it’s been since they have been recorded in the Big Desert. cheers, martin cachard, cairns
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Folks, this is tremendous news and potentially a really significant boost to the survival chances of the Mallee emu-wren, as when Sarah Brown completed her PhD a few years ago she was unable to locate any populations outside of the Murray-Sunset / Hattah-Kulkyne complex, as it was generally believed the populations in Ngarkat had been decimated by the fires in the early 2000s. Since she also found they had very poor rates of dispersal, to find a population here really is wonderful news as just maybe a small cryptic population has been hanging on in a place no one had expected to find them. I would just like to add though: can we please not have a mad rush of twitchers going looking for them in this place, at least and until someone has been able to have a quiet look and see how many there are and how viable this population is? This is one of our most vulnerable bird species, as the MS/HK population is the last stronghold, and it could be wiped out overnight by a big fire in the wrong place. This new population has the chance to change the picture for this species’ survival, so please can we not muck it up until we know how safe it is in this new location… Yours in stipiturid sincerity, Ross Macfarlane —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 8:47 AM hey Tim, that’s such wonderful news!! many moons ago I stumbled upon a family party of Mallee Emu-Wrens at Big Billy Bore, further west in the northern Big Desert in the early 1980’s… I was in the area looking for Red-lored Whistlers. the habitat was very thick Broombrush-heath with very sparse small patches of spinifex, so it seems they don’t mind sparse spinifex as a habitat preference… i’m not sure how long it’s been since they have been recorded in the Big Desert. cheers, martin cachard, cairns
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hey Tim, that’s such wonderful news!! many moons ago I stumbled upon a family party of Mallee Emu-Wrens at Big Billy Bore, further west in the northern Big Desert in the early 1980’s… I was in the area looking for Red-lored Whistlers. the habitat was very thick Broombrush-heath with very sparse small patches of spinifex, so it seems they don’t mind sparse spinifex as a habitat preference… i’m not sure how long it’s been since they have been recorded in the Big Desert. cheers, martin cachard, cairns
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