Conservation work in Australia is gaining ground in beginning to understand how landscapes have changed in their composition – what species occur there; and in structure – e.g. the kinds of plants and how much canopy cover they have; and also how these species interact. No doubt there is much more to learn, and this knowledge continues to improve our conservation action.
I have been incredibly fortunate to join (for a brief time) the team working on restoring habitat of the Golden-shouldered parrot (Psephotus chrysopterygius) on Artemis Station on Cape York Peninsula. Their population is estimated to be down to less than 1000 mature individuals left in the wild, resulting in the species being listed as Endangered.
One of the big threats to the Golden-shouldered parrot is high predation by native co-inhabitants of their habitat: the butcherbirds. There are two main culprit species – the widespread Pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis), and the Black-backed butcherbird (Cracticus mentalis), restricted to Cape York and southern New Guinea. (One morning we even saw a Black butcherbird (Cracticus quoyi)! But they are generally rainforest and riparian forest dwellers, so not widespread here).
The theory is that the once-open woodland and grasslands have become woody thickets as a result of a long history of cattle grazing, and this in turn has changed the way that fire operates in the landscape. Essentially, low intensity fires do not kill seedlings or saplings and therefore recruitment into the fire-resistant canopy size class occurs unchecked. The thicker vegetation has given the butcherbirds the upper hand, with shorter strike distances from perch the poor unsuspecting Golden-shouldered parrots emerging from their termite-mound nests or feeding on the ground.
So the study here has been focussing on the butcherbirds: can we change the way the landscape is managed, and will this in turn decrease the habitat suitability and hunting efficiency of the butcherbirds? And ultimately, will this lead to an increase in nesting success and adult survival of the Golden-shouldered parrots?
To find this out, we have been looking at the density and home range movements of the two butcherbird species throughout areas in which the parrots nested historically, but haven’t been for over 10 years. There’ll be a ‘treatment’ of change in management, and a ‘control’ site without treatment, to see if the butcherbirds will behave differently in response to the management. This work has been endorsed by Thaypan and Olkola Traditional Owners, who lead the Golden-shouldered Parrot Recovery Team.
This is Australia’s first indigenous-led recovery team.
Ten active nests have been found this season, and the morning before we left we wandered down to the little farm dam at first light. We saw 9 Golden-shouldered parrots fly in to a tree beside the water, and we even saw a pair mate! So glad to see they’re doing their bit for population persistence. (No finches unfortunately!)
The weather has been much wetter than we had expected, this late in the year we had thought that the wet season had finished! But most afternoons have been stormy with quite a bit of rainfall. Its made the roads boggy and its delayed us on our return back – we had to wait a few hours for the Hann River to drop before we could cross. Lucky there was the roadhouse to keep us in coffee while we waited.
I hope to get back to help out with the project again soon. The restoration and monitoring work being done for the Golden-shouldered parrots by the Artemis Nature Fund is inspiring – giving the parrots the best chance of survival. If you’re interested to learn more, check out the Artemis Nature Fund, where you can donate to keep this important conservation work going.
Many thanks to Peter Odekerken for the beautiful Golden-shouldered parrot photo!