Top End weeds and their effect on birds: flights

> Good morning all
>
> It’s been a rather dry but stormy February here in the Top End. One
> lightning strike took out a large tree, our internet connections. It sent
> shards of trunk up over two metres in length flying for over forty metres
> in all directions, some landing on our verandah.
>
> Our outdoor activity at this time of year mainly consists of weeding.
> It’s a battle to preserve a variety of native grasses and herbs for
> resident birds such as Partridge Pigeon from a variety of interlopers
> capable at transforming our floristically diverse property to a
> monoculture. These weeds were mainly brought in as cattle pasture or as
> contaminants in cattle pasture.
>
> The cattle industry has fought tooth and nail to prevent some of these
> grasses being declared weeds. However some of these weeds are now causing
> issues for graziers. According to a real estate agent properties with
> gamba grass infestations are not selling. Secondly, and probably a bigger
> issue for the cattle industry, is another weed, a Rats-tail grass
> (Sporobolus jaquemontia). The silica in this grass causes a condition
> called smooth-mouth among stock. Cattle suffering from this condiition
> have teeth so worn down they cannot feed properly.
>
> Rats-tail grass, according to one grazier, is more difficult than other
> weeds to control, one reason being that has a sticky seed and is easily
> spread both by vehicles and animals moving through it. Secondly, birds
> such as Magpie-geese favour the seed and move through the grass stripping
> the heads as they go. So some granivores may benefit from it, although
> probably not Partridge Pigeons. They feed in a similar mannter, but only
> on small grass taxa, such as Eragrostris spp.
>
> Lastly, can anyone tell me whether it would be better for a US visitor
> travelling to Singapore then on to Bali and finally Darwin to book and pay
> for tickets from Australia or the USA?
>
>
> Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
> PO Box 71
> Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
> 043 8650 835
>
> PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW.
>
> Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia
> Nominated by Earthfoot for Condé Nast’s International Ecotourism Award,
> 2004.
>
> With every introduction of a plant or animal that goes feral this
> continent becomes a little less unique, a little less Australian.
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