In the late 1960s and early 1970s Superb Parrots were a common species in
the area that is now covered by the suburb of Fraser.
I used to know people who owned a property there and Superb Parrots
commonly bred in some huge old Yellow Box trees. There was also probably
Canberra's last colony of Grey-crowned Babblers present on site.
The parrots then appeared to die out for quite a while and it is only in
the last decade that they appear to have made a comeback to the northern part
of the ACT. How long they will stay remains to be seen as they tend to follow
food resources around. The breaking of the drought has probably had quite a bit
to do with the birds’ return.
On the other hand the ACT Government has done nothing to help them by
clearing large areas of suitable habitat, for housing. I remember someone once
saying that of the 95 mature Yellow Box and Red Gum trees in the area that is
now Crace, 80 were removed for housing.
Several years ago I travelled along the road that borders Mulligan's
Flat Nature Reserve and was horrified to see that every tree up to the reserve’s
boundary had been flattened. As I pointed out to Chris Davey when he was doing
surveys to record breeding sites for the parrots, it is a totally useless
exercise to find nests if all their food trees are being knocked over. This is
what is happening with Regent Parrots along the Murray River. They breed in the
River Red Gums and feed in the mallee which is still being cleared for
agriculture. They are having to move further and further to find feeding sites.
I will be interested to see what happens with the Superb Parrots as
Canberra continues to move into critical habitat in the newer Gungahlin
suburbs. The ACT Government plans for so-called "offsets" is a farce
and so is their so-called "solar orientation "policy which is one of
the reasons the trees in Crace were removed. All the old eucalypts near the
Gungahlin Town centre will be dead within the next 50 years and nothing appears
to have been done to start potentially replacing them. As soon a building goes
up near them they will be removed as potential hazards.
The older I get the more cynical I become about governments and their "environmental"
policies. I don't think any of them really have a clue!
Mark
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