Late visiters

Yes mate,we do.

I love the black cockatoos! The first time I heard a big flock calling overhead I thought it was some prehistoric pterodactyls or something! Great!!

I still have the yellow tails coming by in ones or twos at work and they have that mournful and plaintiff call, you can hear them coming for miles!! I always race outside and just watch them gracefully pass overhead. Never when I have a camera with me though. It may sound a bit weird but I feel a real spiritual connection with this bird and feel so privileged to be able to observe them even from the ground and at a distance......... maybe I was one in a former life!!

Cheers

Birdie

Hi Tark
Can I pls point out (gently) that "exotic" has a specific meaning in all biological studies, including bird watching. It means "originating in another place" hence the "ex..." prefix.It has much the same meaning as "alien" or "foreign". These birds are all native to Australia, so they are endemic, not "exotic".
Unfortunately the word has taken on a different meaning in popular usage. Some people use it to mean something like "showy" or "spectacular". But in correct usage, on a forum like this, your usage is inappropriate.
I read your post in email form, and wondered why, on this forum, anyone would be congratulating another member on having so many "exotic species". I thought you must have been talking about Blackbirds and Goldfinches, etc. I double checked the website - only to find you were talking about Black Cockatoos and Lorikeets - all native species.
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Unfortunately the language is being changed away from its literal meanings (in many different ways, in many different circumstances), but I feel compelled to point out that the word you used had almost the opposite meaning to that which you probably intended.
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Incidentally, the word "endemic" would be the technically accurate term, but it is not a word in popular usage. Worse, it has taken on a meaning of a species native to a local area. In plants, for example, the Cootamundra Wattle is a "native" (everywhere in Australia), but it is only "endemic" to Cootamundra, not Tasmania or Brisbane or Perth.
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So, if you wish to use a positive adjective, please try "beautiful, or spectacular, or showy", but pls not "exotic" when referring to "native" birds.
Cheers
Denis

Hi Birdie
Thanks
I was trying not to appear critical of a fellow member's use of a technical term in a non-technical manner.
Wikipedia gives this explanation of "exotic species":
"A species is defined as introduced (also known as non-indigenous, alien or exotic) in a certain geographical area, if that area is outside the species' native distributional range, and the species has arrived there by human activity."
So, in general, I think the phrase "introduced species" covers what I understand by the true meaning of "exotic".
Hope that helps.
Re the Noisy Miners in Tasmania, I do recall being puzzled by a comment someone made previously, but I am not sure where or when that comment was made. I do recall wondering if it was perhaps a confusion of "Noisy Miners" and "Common (Indian) Myna". But life was busy at the time, and time moved on, and I did not follow it further.
Cheers
Denis

My example of the Cootamundra Wattle should give you a clue. It is easier to talk about plants, because they have highly specific "locations" or "habitats" and they are generally not mobile. Birds have wings, so they get around more (generally). But the principles are the same.
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Wikipedia says:"Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, habitat type, nation, or other defined zone. To be endemic to a place or area means that it is found only in that part of the world and nowhere else.
Endemic organisms are not the same as indigenous organisms — a species that is indigenous to somewhere may be native to other locations as well. An introduced species, also known as a naturalized or exotic species, is an organism that is not indigenous to a given place or area."
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So, back to the Cootamundra Wattle as an example - it is "endemic" to Cootamundra (a town in south-west NSW), and it is therefore "Native" to Australia. But, in many areas it is declared a noxious weed, because it was so popular with gardeners and Councils that they planted it everywhere, and then the birds took it up as a favourite food plant, and it spread. It therefore became classed as a weed. It out-competes many other native species.
It is still a nice plant, and it is native, but unless you live in Cootamundra, you would be discouraged from planting it. SO, it is "endemic" to Cootamundra, "Native" anywhere in Australia, but technically, for example, in Queensland it ought be classed as "exotic" in the sense that it is not from that place.
Its weedyness is related to the fact that the birds love the seeds so much, and it spreads well. The same could be said of cool climate Berry Bushes - Blackberries, Hawthorns, etc. Birds love them, and spread the seeds.
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Hope those notes help.
Cheers
Denis

Denis, I greatly admire and appreciate your ornithological scholarship but as you realised, I used the word figuratively.

Hi zoidberg, that's an imressive roll of species you have down there mate. Would you be interested in showing me around your locality one spring day perhaps? Maybe we could do a field trip together if you like.

G'day zoidberg, it'd be a case of the blind leading the blind then if you aren't an experiencved birdwatcher. Well anyway, it would be nice to get together for a chat. I'll let you know in a few weeks time when I'll be headoing down that way. Meanwhile, if you would like to drop me a line sometime, then do.