Transcript Swifty-Regents powerpoint presentation
Swift Parrots and Regent Honeyeaters
Icons of our woodlands Chris Tzaros & Dean Ingwersen Woodland Bird Conservation Project
• • • • • Woodland Bird Conservation Project background
Swift Parrot/Regent Honeyeater funding crisis Current phase based on Commonwealth Recovery Plan implementation for swifties and regents Initiate other projects targeting declining and threatened species - research - monitoring - on-ground restoration - knowledge brokering Plan is to work with project partners in Vic. (Trust for Nature), Tas. (Tas Land Conservancy) and NSW (Nature Conservation Trust) Emphasis on private woodland conservation such as strategic covenanting
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Need for this project • • • • •
One third of Australia’s woodlands are cleared 80% of temperate woodlands have been lost Over a third of Australia’s land birds are woodland dependant One in five of these is listed as ‘threatened’ (over 40 species) Birds of south-east temperate woodlands have suffered most
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Introducing the Swift Parrot 4
• • Distribution
Widespread across the temperate south-eastern woodlands, including Tasmania where it breeds Migrates across Bass Strait for autumn-winter (longest migrating parrot in the World)
Non-Breeding Breeding
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• • Movements
October – December: Breeding Eastern Tasmania in Blue Gum forest
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January: First year birds are mobile Disperse through central and northern Tasmania
Non-Breeding Breeding
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Movements •
February - April: Arrive on mainland
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May - August: Nomadic throughout central, southern and north-east Vic, NSW south, central and north coast, south-west and central slopes, occasionally south-east Qld
Non-Breeding Breeding
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Movements •
September: Southward migration
Non-Breeding Breeding
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• • • Abundance
Population: 1987 1320 breeding pairs 1995 940 breeding pairs “Swift Parrot population estimated to be no more than 1000 breeding pairs” Swift Parrot Recovery Plan 2001 Conservation status: Endangered Nationally (listed under Commonwealth EPBC Act 1999)
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Introducing the Regent Honeyeater 10
Distribution 11
Movements • Highly mobile but appear to have regular patterns of
movement
• Late summer-winter - disperse widely in small groups • Late winter-spring - concentrate back into core
breeding areas:
• Capertee Valley, central NSW • Bundarra - Barraba, northern NSW • Chiltern, Vic 12
Changes in abundance • Contraction in range (from SA, western Victoria and
parts of Qld)
• Reporting rates have declined and flocks observed
are smaller - until early this century the Regent Honeyeater congregated from time to time in large flocks, described enthusiastically as containing “immense numbers” (1866) and “thousands” (1909).
• Very difficult to estimate current numbers: • Reporting rate is very low for a species that
inhabits a largely agricultural landscape
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Threats • Loss of habitat and reduction in quality (particularly
fragmentation)
• Clearing for agriculture • Forestry and cutting for firewood • Continuing decline of trees in agricultural landscape • Lack of regeneration • Competition with other
large nectar feeders for patchy and unpredictable resources
• Climate change and
drought
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‘Flagships’ for woodland conservation •
Actions to reverse the declines of these two high profile species will have flow on benefits to a host of other threatened and declining woodland birds
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Jacky Winter • Insectivorous • Ground and trunk foraging • Favours slightly open areas 16
Brown Treecreeper • Insectivorous • Ground and trunk foraging • Hollow breeder 17
• Granivorous Diamond Firetail • Ground foraging • Dependant on healthy grassy woodlands 18
Speckled Warbler • Insectivorous • Ground foraging • Often in mixed-species foraging flocks 19
• • • • Habitat in Victoria
Box-ironbark forests and woodlands Lowland vegetation communities on fertile sites are preferred These sites have important drought refuge characteristics Trees at such sites flower more frequently and abundantly
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Grey Box White Box Forage trees in Victoria
Eucalyptus microcarpa
Early autumn flowering
Eucalyptus albens
Mid-late winter flowering Yellow Gum Red Ironbark Red Box
Eucalyptus leucoxylon Eucalyptus tricarpa Eucalyptus polyanthemos
Mid-late winter flowering, abundant nectar, good lerp loads Mid-late winter flowering, abundant nectar but severely drought affected Occasional lerp infestation Yellow Box River Red Gum Golden Wattle
Eucalyptus melliodora Eucalyptus camaldulensis Acacia pycnantha
Late spring-early summer flowering, occasional lerp loads, good for insects Reliably harbours insects and regular lerp loads Racemes in winter important for swifties 21
Identifying the Swift Parrot 22
Identifying the Swift Parrot Purple-crowned Lorikeet LittleLorikeet • Plumage differences
include:
- Red under wings
and tail
Musk Lorikeet Scaly-breasted Lorikeet Rainbow Lorikeet 23
Identifying the Swift Parrot • Similar species and calls
Little Lorikeet Purple-crowned Lorikeet Musk Lorikeet Swift Parrot
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Identifying the Regent Honeyeater 25
Identifying the Regent Honeyeater
Other ‘yellow-winged’ honeyeaters:
• New Holland HE smaller and
have white on face
• Painted HE white underparts
and pink bill
• White-fronted and Crescent
very rare
• Note that field guides
incorrectly illustrate a pink or red face
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Identifying the Regent Honeyeater • Similar species and calls
New Holland Honeyeater Painted Honeyeater Regent Honeyeater
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Swiftie and Regent surveys • • •
The winter surveys were set up to track these highly mobile creatures They have been successful in telling us a great deal There is still much to be learned by continuing them
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• • Swiftie and Regent surveys
A good way to cover lots of ground is to drive through suitable habitat listening for bird activity Upon finding a good patch, stop and survey/wander the area looking and listening for the target species
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Woodland Bird Surveys • •
20 min x 2 Ha transect 500m area search - these are often the best methods for locating threatened and cryptic species, like Swifties and Regents
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Swiftie and Regent surveys • •
Traditional survey dates: 3rd week of May (this year, 16-17 May) 1st week of August (this year, 1-2 August) However, we also seek opportunistic information outside these periods necessary
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The survey sheet
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The survey sheet
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Other activities to assist Swifties and Regents • Lurg revegetation project
Ray Thomas Phone: (03) 57 611 515 Fax: (03) 57 611 628 email: [email protected]
Web: regent.org.au
8-9 August 22-23 August 5-6 September 19-20 September
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Contact:
Chris Tzaros & Dean Ingwersen Woodland Bird Conservation Project [email protected]
(03) 9347 0757 For more information, visit: www.birdsaustralia.com.au/wbc
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