Interesting to see that Noisy Miners are proposed as a threatening process in Victoria under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.
See the ‘preliminary recommendation’ for a listing by the Scientific Advisory Committee (Google for noisy miner and ‘Flora and Fauna Guarantee’).
I am open to changing my mind but this, to me, seems like fiddling while Rome burns. The underlying reason why Noisy Miners affect threatened and endangered species is habitat simplification by humans – and the habitat simplification and, even more, the failure to respond to what is clear from numerous studies and, further back still, the increasing disconnection between people and nature are the really threatening processes.
That is evidenced by an item in The Age saying the Victorian State Government is looking at diluting the F&FG Act because the location of threatened species is getting in the way of logging!
Michael Norris Melbourne
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Perhaps we ought to try this with Rainbow Lorikeets in the Top End! Denise
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Hi Michael,
I was slightly skeptical when I went to a talk on this topic by Martine Maron from the University of Queensland at the Birds Australia Southern Queensland conference earlier in the year. The science of it is really interesting though, removing Noisy Miners from a woodland patch allows much greater increases of bird diversity than fencing and feral control. Martine’s personal research has shown that Noisy Miners are the greatest negative impact on woodland bird diversity in habitats where they occur, and combined with trials of Miner removal and it sounds like it could be another very useful tool to restoring woodlands. Sure, it would be great if we could afford to replant, fence and run feral control programs up the entire east coast, but given lack of funds, this may well be the best way to spend our conservation money in the short term.
Cheers, Chris
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