indeed, i suspect that had blackbirds not been introduced many of these berry-producing bird-dispersed plants which are now regarded as environmental weeds would be more or less confined to ornamental gardens, as per the original intention. some native birds have taken a liking to some of the introduced plants, but blackbirds seem to be by far the main dispersal agent, especially in urban fringes (though the blackbird seems more capable than most introduced birds at surviving in more natural settings as well)
we would still have plenty of wind-borne introduced weeds but i suspect the weed (here i mean colonising plant) seed load would have a considerably higher native species %.
also the blackbirds prodigious earth-moving capacities have been implicated in the decline of some rare orchids via soil disturbance (disturbing the soil is incidentally also great for weed colonisation).
To me this is pointless speculation. As European settlers we have made all sorts of mixtakes. blackbirds being just one and far from the worst. The big question is what are we going to do now? Pointless whingeing or real action to improve things? I don't think that killing a few ferals will make a lot of difference, I think people need to make a real commitment of putting their tax dollars where their mouth is and protecting or restoring habitat. I have lots of blackbirds on my place but I also have many native species which are thriving. I would rather focus on positive things.
indeed, i suspect that had blackbirds not been introduced many of these berry-producing bird-dispersed plants which are now regarded as environmental weeds would be more or less confined to ornamental gardens, as per the original intention. some native birds have taken a liking to some of the introduced plants, but blackbirds seem to be by far the main dispersal agent, especially in urban fringes (though the blackbird seems more capable than most introduced birds at surviving in more natural settings as well)
we would still have plenty of wind-borne introduced weeds but i suspect the weed (here i mean colonising plant) seed load would have a considerably higher native species %.
also the blackbirds prodigious earth-moving capacities have been implicated in the decline of some rare orchids via soil disturbance (disturbing the soil is incidentally also great for weed colonisation).
To me this is pointless speculation. As European settlers we have made all sorts of mixtakes. blackbirds being just one and far from the worst. The big question is what are we going to do now? Pointless whingeing or real action to improve things? I don't think that killing a few ferals will make a lot of difference, I think people need to make a real commitment of putting their tax dollars where their mouth is and protecting or restoring habitat. I have lots of blackbirds on my place but I also have many native species which are thriving. I would rather focus on positive things.
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