FEATURE ARTICLE BY: DAVID COOMBES P.S. CHAIRMAN TION
MAJOR LL’S COCKATOO SOUTH WALES, LIA
Cockatoos (Cacatua leadbeateri) being predated by goannas, a type of monitor lizard, is the longest supported by the Parrot Society UK. To date just over £22,000 has been donated to it. It all began nearly twenty years ago when John Mollindinia and Tom Alston, highly respected founder members of the Parrot Society UK, travelled to Australia to gain first-hand experience of the cockatoo, a particular favourite of theirs. There they met Ray Ackroyd, who to this day organises tours in the south-eastern states of New South Wales and Victoria as well as being a government licensed bird trapper. The availability of water in recent times as well as cereal crops, both in the field and stored, as a result of farming activities in a semi- arid area of Australia had caused an explosion in the bird populations, particularly the Eastern Galah (Eolophus r. albiceps), Slender- billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua g. galerita), which devastated the crops and had been subsequently designated “pest” species by the Australian authorities. Ray has tried to persuade these authorities to allow export of these species, but to date these attempts have been rebuffed.
T
John Mollindinia noticed during his visit that there were few Major Mitchell cockatoos to be seen and then discovered that they suffered from constant predation by goannas, a species
BIRD SCENE 11
he tree-tinning project to prevent the active nests of Major Mitchell
PART ONE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
