Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater August 2017 Survey Summary

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1 Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater August 2017 Survey Summary Dean Ingwersen, Mick Roderick, Caroline Wilson & Chris Timewell We had another excellent turn out from volunteer counters across Victoria, ACT, NSW and Queensland during the August 2017 Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater survey weekend. Including incidental records before and after the weekend, birds were fairly widespread across the mainland, except for a few large congregations of Swift Parrots in NSW (Lower Hunter Valley and the Temora area). We would like to thank all our volunteers and volunteer coordinators for all your hard work during the surveys during With your help again this year, we will cover as much ground as possible to locate Swift Parrots and Regent Honeyeaters, to add to our long-term database and provide valuable information on these Critically Endangered species. If you would like to participate in the 2018 survey weekends, see below for more details or contact woodlandbirds@birdlife.org.au. Swift Parrots Photo: A Swift Parrot feeding on Spotted Gum blossom on the Ellalong Lagoon property, south of Cessnock on 10 th August 2017 (Mick Roderick)

2 NSW/ACT/Qld The lead-up to the August 2017 surveys saw a continuation of birds at the two key locations where flocks were being monitored in the Lower Hunter Valley and the Temora area. The largest concentrations (of up to 200 birds) were in the latter, centred on Ingalba Nature Reserve and surrounding properties in early July. These birds were feeding on Mugga nectar, as well as leaf-gleaning on Mugga and Inland Grey Box. Numbers had dropped by the time of the August surveys, with about a third of the original 200 birds able to be accounted for. Still, these represented the largest counts of Swift Parrots in NSW for the August surveys. Similarly, numbers had dropped off during July at the main Lower Hunter site (Ellalong Lagoon) where 25 birds were found on the 10 th August. However, there was still a good spread of birds in the Lower Hunter, with birds found at 3 sites including one where Regent Honeyeaters had just been found (see the Regent Honeyeater account for details). Outside of the Temora and Lower Hunter we had a single report of birds using habitat in western Sydney (at Kurrajong Heights). Although this was only 2 birds it was good to see them back at a site where they were also found in June There was a distinct lack of Swift Parrot records from the Sydney area in 2017, with this Kurrajong Heights record being one of only four reported to us from Sydney during 2017 (the others were from Dural, Cowan and Kellyville). A single bird was picked up inside the Gwydir Park Travelling Stock Reserve in the western New England region of NSW, though that was to be the only site in that region from where Swift Parrots were reported this year (15 birds were reported later in August at the same site). We also had the one Queensland report from the August surveys, with 15 birds seen feeding on Mugga Ironbark near a well-known waterhole in Durikai State Forest. The interesting thing about these Durikai birds is that some of them remained until at least the 13 th September, which was the last report of Swift Parrots in NSW, Queensland or the ACT for Victoria Group sizes of Swift Parrots were small (1 20; over 50% of records were groups of 1-5) across Victoria leading up to the August survey weekend, during the survey weekend, and afterwards. This is like group sizes recorded during and leading up to the May 2017 survey weekend. These small groups were scattered across Victoria, possibly in response to food resources also being widespread. Such small and widespread groups of birds can be difficult to locate, so our volunteers did a fantastic job in finding them! Leading up to the survey weekend (June to August) Swift Parrots were recorded in Central Victoria (Maldon, Heathcote, Muckleford, Welshmans Reef, Bendigo, Mandurang near Bendigo), North and North-east Victoria (Bailieston, Whroo, Chiltern), West Victoria (St Arnaud, Deep Lead), Central-south Victoria (near Brisbane Ranges National Park, Ocean Grove, Bannockburn), and in Greater Melbourne (including a number of records in North-east suburb of Greensborough, as well as Clayton in the southeast, and Royal Park close to the city). During the survey weekend (August 5 th and 6 th and the week either side) there were nine positive records of Swift Parrots in Victoria, despite an extensive search effort. During this time, Swift Parrots were found at Warrenheip, just outside of Ballarat (it has been a little while since Swift Parrots have

3 been found near the township of Ballarat), also at Paddys Ranges State Park and Kooyoora State Park (North-west Victoria), Lockwood South State Forest (Central Victoria), along a roadside in Rowsley (Central-south) and in the North-east Melbourne suburb of Plenty (on a roadside). After the survey weekend, Swift Parrots were recorded on the mainland up until October 2017, the last two records were in East Gippsland (Oct 7 th ; Raymond Island) and the Mornington Peninsula (Oct 21 st ; Greens Bush near Cape Shank), both locations in southern sections of Victoria, as birds make their way back to Tassie. Other locations during the rest of August (after the survey weekend of the 5 th and 6 th ) and September included Teesdale (Central-south Victoria), Chiltern (North-east Victoria), Waurn Ponds (near Geelong), and more records in the north-east suburbs of Melbourne (Bundoora and Plenty). The north-east suburbs of Melbourne have been an important foraging area for Swift Parrots, with a number of records over the past few years. In this area, Swift Parrots have been feeding on street trees and backyard trees such as Sugar Gums, Manna Gums and Yellow Box. Regent Honeyeaters In a departure from recent low results on survey weekends, a total of 53 Regent Honeyeaters were found across 10 sites, scattered from north-east Victoria to the north coast of NSW. Photo: A Regent Honeyeater feeds on an unidentified species of stringybark on the Austar coal mine site, west of Cessnock on 3 rd August 2017 (Mick Roderick) NSW/ACT/Qld The August surveys for Regent Honeyeaters showed an interesting spread of birds, including from unusual locations and more traditional sites. The first report of Regent Honeyeaters during the August survey period came from an unusual location on the edge of a football field in Blackalls Park, on the western side of Lake Macquarie. Two birds were seen by a number of people feeding in a hybrid Swamp Mahogany crossed with perhaps Forest Red Gum. These birds were known to be present from at least the 29 th July until the 8 th August. The bird that had been found previously in Coastal Banksia at

4 Woolgoolga was still present during the August surveys and to our knowledge was still only ever heard performing Little Wattlebird calls. The highest counts during the August surveys were from the Lower Hunter, where a minimum of 31 birds were counted across two distinct sites (and only minutes apart). Fifteen birds were found feeding mostly on stringybark blossom (though also on Spotted Gum) at the Austar Coal Mine site west of Cessnock. This was an exciting find as it was the first record at this site since there were similar numbers in 2009 (though Regent Honeyeaters had been found on other parts of Austar land in 2012). The other 16 birds were found on the private property at Quorrobolong where a flock of 20 birds had been present since at least mid-may, with most birds feeding in Spotted Gum blossom (and of interest, some were also on the same stringybark species that birds were feeding in at the Austar site). Although 2 nests were later seen being constructed at the Quorrobolong property, birds departed the site in early spring, possibly vacating in favour of the Capertee Valley (see below). In an interesting twist, a bird found on the Austar site was found to be wearing the colour-combination blue-metal/mauve-black and was banded at the Quorrobolong property in June So the bird was less than 20km from its banding site 5 years earlier, but we wonder where else this bird may have travelled in the meantime? From other known areas, we received a report of 2 birds on the 6 th August from a fire trail in the Burragorang Valley feeding in flowering White Box trees. On the same day, a single bird was also heard in the Gwydir Park Travelling Stock Reserve at the same site where the lone Swift Parrot mentioned above was found. Perhaps of greatest significance, the August survey period also provided the first Regent Honeyeater reports from the Capertee Valley and surrounds for spring 2017 and the first report from the valley since a single bird was found in the north (near Home Hills Road) on the 15 th January (the only other report from 2017 to this point). The initial reports came as five birds at the homestead in Capertee National Park and heralded the start of what was to become a steady influx of Regent Honeyeaters into the valley ahead of the 2017 breeding season, along with a pair of birds on private property in the centre of the valley. Finally, another four birds were seen around this time in the Goulburn River region by ANU PhD candidate Ross Crates at the start of what was another busy season of monitoring and research for him. Victoria The focus for Victoria for 2017 was entirely centred around the captive release in Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP, with monitoring still occurring daily during the August survey period. Thanks to this monitoring we were able to find, and subsequently catch and band, a male Regent Honeyeater in the park which was associating with captive-released birds. Further to this a total of four previously released birds, all from the 2015 cohort, were resighted in the park around this time. The most significant of those was a bird affectionately known as Yellow-Yellow. Released in Chiltern in April 2015, he hung around during most of that year before disappearing late in the monitoring period. He then turned up back in Chiltern in mid-2016 before again disappearing. When he reappeared in November 2016 he surprised us all he d travelled to Outtrim in South Gippsland and was visiting planted Callistemons in a rural garden. Not satisfied with that, he then disappeared again within a day of arriving there - before turning up back in Chiltern in mid-2017 amongst the new cohort of released birds. In all it was a round trip of 540km and is the second longest known movement we ve recorded of the species.

5 Photo: Yellow-Yellow, a male Regent Honeyeater released in 2015 in Chiltern which had travelled to Outtrim (South Gippsland) and back within 12 months. (Dean Ingwersen) 2018 Survey Weekends The challenge is on again to locate Swift Parrots and Regent Honeyeaters during 2018! Given the nomadic nature and wide range of both species, we need to cover as much ground as possible, especially focusing on (a) targeting locations where they ve been detected historically, and (b) searching any other areas within their range which contain flowering eucalypts for foraging or areas of heavy lerp and insect loads. The 2018 Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater survey weekends will be: 3 rd weekend in May: 19 th & 20 th May st weekend in August: 4 th & 5 th August 2018 Again, we will be looking for volunteers to help survey Swift Parrots and Regent Honeyeaters across Victoria, ACT, NSW and Queensland. We are also happy for people to get out a week either side of the May and August survey weekends. If you are interested, please save the dates above, and we will be in touch closer to the time. In the meantime, please don t hesitate to contact us: Dean Ingwersen (Regent Honeyeaters), Mick Roderick (Swift Parrots NSW, ACT and Qld) or Chris Timewell (Swift Parrots VIC) at woodlandbirds@birdlife.org.au Also check out: