On 16 October 2009 Amelia Toni Ann Mason was born, and she is the 4th generation of the Mason family to live at Cape Tribulation. She is named after her great grandmothers, Elsie Amelia Dorothea Mason and Toni Berden and her Grandmother Ann Mason. Mother and baby are doing well.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Cassowaries are back!
During the last month we have had some great Cassowary sightings on out guided walks. Cassowary poo has been evident on the paths for a few years now and the birds are not bothered by humans at all.
This is very gratifying, because for some time from about 1985 to 2000, cassowaries were rarely seen at Cape Tribulation. Researchers even suggested that at some point they must have been shot, as oral history recorded that they were common at Cape Tribulation as recently as the 1970s. Certainly I can remember them as being common in my childhood.
Although forest clearing and predation by wild pigs definately affects there population, neither would seem to account for the decline in the 90s. In fact some areas of the Daintree maintained very high concentrations of Cassowaries even when other areas showed a decline.
My personal theory is that there must have been some sort of disease that came here in the introduced birds like chickens, ducks and geese that were bought in by settlers, that decimated the Cassowaries here. I suspect that we are now seeing the progeny of the resistant birds, and that is why numbers have been seen to increase from about 2000 onwards....
This is very gratifying, because for some time from about 1985 to 2000, cassowaries were rarely seen at Cape Tribulation. Researchers even suggested that at some point they must have been shot, as oral history recorded that they were common at Cape Tribulation as recently as the 1970s. Certainly I can remember them as being common in my childhood.
Although forest clearing and predation by wild pigs definately affects there population, neither would seem to account for the decline in the 90s. In fact some areas of the Daintree maintained very high concentrations of Cassowaries even when other areas showed a decline.
My personal theory is that there must have been some sort of disease that came here in the introduced birds like chickens, ducks and geese that were bought in by settlers, that decimated the Cassowaries here. I suspect that we are now seeing the progeny of the resistant birds, and that is why numbers have been seen to increase from about 2000 onwards....
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