Storm Damage

[amalan11]

so sorry to hear that,its terrible. Would it be worth putting up a notice localy as some may go to other tame birds.Iv had finchs turn up twice that were not mine

[matcho]

I admit that this a teribble situation for you to be in and my heart goes out to you. Hopefully you may retreive most of your birds. If you don't then you may have the situation where (hopefully) a feral population of your lost birds may become established nearby, if the local predators dont come in. Obviously the birds are used to the local conditions. According to legend there was a population years ago of the Whydas in the Hawkesbury River region near Sydney. But wouldn't it be wonderful if the cordons got established near home? Although in theory they should be classed the same a sparrows but imagine if they became as common as a goldfinches or spice finch.

[jusdeb]

Anything is possible Matcho and if things go well ie. weather and predators it might be likely ...Something to keep an eye out for in years to come .

[AMCA26]

Sorry to hear and read chief. I am surprised that some are actually still around. That was one of the worst storm fronts i have seen for a long while. The wind the rain and the thunder was like you were down at the beach and the noise was like was constantly crashing in just did not stop. Hope the family is ok as well.

[E Orix]

The chances of any surviving is quite remote especially now. Even though there is plenty of seeding grasses around, the major problem is it is the Honeyeater type birds breeding season.They are the most territorial and will not hesitate to attack and kill anything smaller than them. I guess in some cases even bigger birds.Then there are our normal preditors plus those mongrel Noisy Miners.They give the native species a belting so a Cordon wouldn't have a chost of a chance.

[Mickp]

Sorry to hear of your problems after the storm.
If there is anything I could do to help please ask.

[finchbreeder]

Glad to hear that at least a few made it through the storm and are safetly back in the avairy.
LML

[SamDavis]

Good to hear you've caught a few David. Would be great if you manage to trap more of the rarer species. But unfortunately I think you're right - it is unlikely many of the others have survived. Some years ago when livimg in the blue mountains I had a large tree fall on an aviary. All the butcher birds and kookaburras for miles around arrived. I still recall kookaburras with gouldians in their beaks and every butcher bird had some species of finch in it's beak - very easy pickings for them. Not much I could do. Was a nightmare to watch.

[Lukec]

Hi E.Orix

Just wondering if you managed to capture much more after your last post?

[E Orix]

Sorry Luke
Missed this post hence late comment.
I would say that nearly all the birds that actually returned to the top of the aviary we caught.
Species like Cordons, Saints,Cubans etc seemed to hang around for about 24 hrs. The problem was the section
that blew out was some 40 m from a water coarse and light bush. There was cover etc and what went there continued on.
In actual numbers lost I don't know but the 2 species that went down in big numbers were the Blue Faced P/F and the Saint Helena Waxbills
The other thing we found in the latter days was the amount of birds bodies we found around the aviary that actually drowned in the down pour.
No terrestial birds survived bar one hen SkyLark,there would have been water all around as well as it pounding down during the 15 min down pour.
With the exception of a couple of species which have not been replaced the big flight is functioning again.
Going by the amount of young fledging now I guess the mated birds that survived must have nearly started again within a few days.
I noticed a 4 & 3 young Cordons and young are fledging each day so we are up and running.
I guess our end total of young fledged will be less than last season but it seems this season is now far from lost.
The interesting point was after 2 days not one escapee was seen flying around, rural preditors and Honey Eaters would have sorted them out I guess.