Swift Parrots

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Tiaris
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Joined: 23 Apr 2011, 08:48
Location: Coffs Harbour

Reading published material on the subject doesn't always necessarily enlighten the public with actual facts on such matters. Just look at much of the published material on the Gouldian finch's wild status re total population around 2500 birds when regular recent accounts of single flocks of close to half that number are often sighted in NT casting considerable doubt over the credibility of the population estimates. Much of the "scientific" published material is written with a view to canvassing donations to fund further research (In My Opinion) and hence deliberately overplays the extent of the species' endangered status.
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finchbreeder
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Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast

Fair enough T. But don't mind erring on the side of caution. Read underestimating instead of overestimating. :upsidown:
LML
LML
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iaos
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Location: Newcastle, NSW
Location: Newcastle, NSW

Tiaris, as you would understand estimating any population is difficult especially in remote locations. Further to this, a few good seasons for a species such as the gouldian can see its population increase relatively quickly and a population estimate can become quickly outdated. I believe the recent good fortunes of the gouldian have seen its IUCN conservation status downgraded to "near threatened".

And a quote below from Birdlife, as you can see even the most recent stats they are quoting are 5 years out of date.
The population has been conservatively estimated to be fewer than 2,500 mature individuals at the start of the breeding season, however more optimistic estimates have placed the total population as closer to c.10,000 mature individuals (J. Woinarski in litt. 2007). The results of an expert panel review process concluded that the most plausible population size was c2,400 mature individuals in 2010, which potentially falls to an annual minimum close to 1,000 individuals during the wet season (Garnett et al. 2011)
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Tiaris
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There again, with IUCN "downgrading" the species' endangered status, what conclusive population evidence is this based on when all such population estimates appear very obviously (to me at least) to be very inconsistent and based almost entirely on personal arbitrary and highly subjective stabs in the dark by a few individuals. Localised waterhole counts, etc do very little to ascertain species-wide population when we are talking such an enormous physical range. I think (again my personal opinion) it is most likely that the initial classification as endangered was in hindsight a too hasty decision and when more detailed research on the species was undertaken in a couple of key locations revealed the likely true (higher) numbers, the reclassification decision was made. I totally accept the need for caution when dealing with conservation matters, but also very strongly feel that much of the publicity regarding the research and certain aspects of the research itself were pointed toward a more alarmist portrayal of the situation to encourage and maximise public support (including funding) for the ongoing research work.
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BOERBOEL
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Joined: 04 Aug 2016, 19:51
Location: Brisbane

Lovely bird. A spectacular species. Would love a pair of these in my collection.
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