Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater survey update - May 2012

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1 Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater survey update - May 2012 Chris Tzaros (Swift Parrot Recovery Coordinator) Dean Ingwersen (Regent Honeyeater Recovery Coordinator)

2 Firstly, a big thank you to all who continue to express an interest in participating in these threatened species monitoring programs. Over the past couple of years, participation rates in the autumn-winter surveys have been among the highest ever in the 18 year history of these projects, so a sincere thank you for your ongoing support. Through BirdLife Australia s Woodland Birds for Biodiversity Project, we are continuing the survey program this year. The autumn survey will be held over the weekend of the th May and a follow-up survey in winter will be held on the 4-5 th August. The following is a recent summary for each species to whet your appetite! Swift Parrot Mainland update Autumn sees the return of the migratory Swift Parrot back to south-eastern mainland Australia from its Tasmanian breeding grounds. At the time of writing (late April), there have already been around 40 records of swifties from the Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maryborough, St Arnaud and Chiltern regions of Victoria, and also in New South Wales from the Bermagui, Moruya, Tomakin and Kiama regions on the south coast, western Sydney, and the central coast. Last years wintering season saw Swift Parrots recorded in all mainland States and Territories within their range Victoria, NSW, ACT, Queensland and South Australia. With similar good conditions right across the wintering range this year, perhaps the birds will again scatter themselves far and wide throughout both coastal forests and inland woodlands, taking advantage of any eucalypt flowering or foliage insect resources they might come across. Already there are signs that White Box on the inland slopes and Spotted Gum in the NSW coastal forests might flower well this season. So, the challenge is on again to locate the Swift Parrots wherever they are hiding. As with the previous 18 years that these surveys have occurred in conjunction with the Regent Honeyeater surveys, data generated has extremely important implications and continues to improve our knowledge of the species ecology and helps guide the overall recovery effort. It is also important that all Swift Parrot sightings be reported so details can be entered into the national sightings database. If you see a Swift Parrot anywhere on the mainland, please contact Chris Tzaros as soon as possible. Breeding range update From the breeding range, volunteer foraging habitat surveys conducted across Tasmania are also yielding significant data. The 2011 survey was conducted during the last three weeks of October and the first week of November. Surveys were conducted at 850 potential foraging sites in eastern, north-western and western Tasmania, at the same sites that were surveyed in 2009 and In brief, each site was surveyed for 5 minutes using a standardised method to record the presence/absence and abundance of Swift Parrots and Blue Gum or Black Gum flowering. All sites were visited at least twice (up to 5 times in some cases) to estimate detection probabilities. Date: 1

3 In 2011, very little Blue Gum flowering or bud was observed across the breeding range and most of the birds recorded were in Black Gum flower. Although many monitoring sites were occupied by smaller numbers of birds it was clear a large proportion of the known population had not been accounted for and a wider survey targeting areas with Black Gum was initiated. This expanded survey was centred around the Eastern Tiers where some birds had been recorded in existing monitoring sites indicating that more could well be in the vicinity. It ended up that much of the known Swift Parrot population did occur in the Eastern Tiers area 52% of monitoring sites supported Swift Parrots in a region where breeding had not previously been recorded. Black Gum has generally been considered to provide an important food source early in the breeding season, but not satisfactory to support Swift Parrot breeding on its own. This idea has most likely been influenced by the tendency for Black Gum to finish flowering earlier in the breeding season with peak flowering generally occurring in October. In 2011, Black Gum flowered very late in several areas, particularly throughout the Eastern Tiers at higher altitudes (e.g. >350 m a.s.l.). In many areas of the Eastern Tiers peak flowering did not occur until the end of December, continuing through to the beginning of January. The findings from this breeding season survey suggest a need to review the current thinking on how the species can utilise Black Gum during the breeding season. The population and habitat use monitoring program has now collected three years of data on the distribution of the Swift Parrot population during the breeding season. This information is providing a quantitative assessment of the landscape scale distribution of the population each year and being used as an objective method to assist in the development of effective conservation strategies. To contact Chris Tzaros with Swift Parrot sighting information or for queries regarding the survey program, chris.tzaros@birdlife.org.au, or phone (03) Date: 2

4 Swift Parrot foraging on leaf galls on Grey Box foliage. Please remember to observe and record what your Swift Parrots were doing in as much detail as possible. Photo: Chris Tzaros. Black Gum provided an important food source for the Swift Parrot population in the breeding season. Photo: Chris Tzaros. Date: 3

5 Regent Honeyeater The past year has been an exciting one for the Regent Honeyeater recovery team, administered by BirdLife Australia s Woodland Birds for Biodiversity project. Although the number of birds reported over the course of the year was similar to previous years, the sightings covered almost the full range of the bird with birds seen from Ipswich in Qld to north-east Victoria. Further to this the species was seen in the Bundarra-Barraba area of NSW for the first time in several years. With the drought conditions of the past decade or so appearing to have an impact on breeding of the species, it was encouraging to see a number of birds return to the Capertee Valley in NSW to breed in the River Oaks and Yellow Box on and adjacent to the Capertee River. Surveys in October and November found nearly 50 birds spread across several locations, with multiple nests in some spots (and double clutching occurring in some pairs). A remarkable sighting at this time was made by long-time volunteer Carol Probets and two keepers from Taronga Zoo, who found a male Regent Honeyeater on the Capertee River. This particular bird was banded near Eagle Point in Gippsland back in 2009, and as a result of the sighting reset the record for the longest distance movement recorded by the recovery team from over 600 banded birds it had travelled at least 584 km since it was banded! This result is also amazing for a couple of other reasons: - it was only about 20 months from the time of banding to the time of re-sighting, - it was foraging in mistletoe in River She Oaks along the Capertee River itself (arguably the nursery for the Regent Honeyeater population for the past couple of decades) after raising a young on River Red Gum and planted trees at the time of banding, and - it was breeding again! It was observed feeding two fledglings, and his new partner was busy building another nest. Once again, this has demonstrated the value of colour-banding to gain an insight into the ecology of bird species! Further evidence of the value of colour-banding was gained during the year with sightings of captive-bred birds released at Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP in Over the course of the year a total of six released birds were seen five returned to the Chiltern area and one popped up on a farm near Holbrook in southern NSW. These were the first re-sightings of captive released birds so were cause for great celebration. Whilst resighting each of these released birds was an important milestone, the big news came in late September when one of the captive-bred females was found nesting with a wild male. The birds were found by local landholders who had just signed their property to a Land for Wildlife agreement, who then had the joy of watching these beautiful birds raise a chick on their property. Not a bad way to start a voluntary conservation agreement! Date: 4

6 Further to this, a seventh captive-bred bird was found only weeks ago in Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP, nearly two years after release. This bird, known as Red-Yellow thanks to the bands on it s right leg, was fitted with a radio transmitter at the time of release and was one of the birds which was monitored until September It had not been seen since then, and leaves us all pondering where it had been and what it had been up to since we last saw it. This year looks like being a bumper year for White Box in many parts of the range of Regent Honeyeaters, with birds already recorded foraging in it from north-east Victoria to central NSW. And Spotted Gum (both planted and naturally occurring remnants) is currently in flower in many places and presents another potential Regent foraging option (and has indeed already drawn a Regent record this year). And who knows what else is out there Thanks again to all our fantastic volunteers and supporters for their continued assistance to keep Regent Honeyeaters in our woodland for years to come. A captive-bred Regent Honeyeater ( Red/Yellow ) seen at Chiltern in April nearly two years after release. Photo: Dean Ingwersen. Date: 5

7 A captive-bred female Regent Honeyeater, who paired with a wild male, successfully reared young at Chiltern in This was the first successful post-release nesting recorded for any captive-release birds. Photo: Dean Ingwersen. The male Regent Honeyeater of this pair (bird on the right) was banded in Gippsland, southern Victoria, in 2009 and bred in the Capertee Valley, central NSW, in 2011 at least 584km from banding to resighting! Photo: Dean Ingwersen. Date: 6

8 A fledgling of our own The Woodland Birds for Biodiversity project has recently employed Mick Roderick to work on the project part-time in NSW. Mick comes to us from an ecological background which included most recently working as a senior threatened species officer in the NSW environment department, and is a real asset for the project. Mick will be assisting with the delivery of conservation activities for our threatened and declining woodland birds such as talks, workshops, surveys and media. He will also concurrently be working for our project partner in NSW, The Nature Conservation Trust of NSW, to secure prime woodland habitat covenants on private property. We would like to welcome Mick on board, and look forward to working hard again this year for Swifties, Regents and all the other woodland gems surveys Searching for a worthwhile excuse to venture out into the eucalypt forests and woodlands for a weekend? Well search no further! Why not volunteer as a Swift Parrot- Regent Honeyeater surveyor? As mentioned already those important survey dates for this year are: th May and 4-5 th August. The surveys are coordinated under BirdLife Australia s Woodland Birds for Biodiversity (WBfB) project, funded by the Australian Government s Caring for our Country program. If you wish to participate in the surveys or report sightings of either species, please contact Dean Ingwersen (Regent Honeyeaters) - dean.ingwersen@birdlife.org.au, Chris Tzaros (Swift Parrots) - chris.tzaros@birdlife.org.au, or Mick Roderick mick.roderick@birdlife.org.au, or call them on Further information on the project can be found here: Best wishes to all observers and good luck with the surveys. Date: 7