YT 83 - Birdlife Australia

Yellow Throat
The newsletter of BirdLife Tasmania
a branch of BirdLife Australia
Number 83, September 2015
General Meeting
Life Sciences Building, UTas,
Thursday, 10 September, 7.30 p.m.
Vince Scoleri will be the speaker at our September General Meeting. Vince will be
speaking about the effects of introduced Tasmanian Devils and feral cats on Maria Island,
particularly in regard to the Little Penguin and Short-tailed Shearwater colonies.
As usual, the discussion will continue over tea, coffee and biscuits after the meeting.
Meeting venue: Life Sciences Lecture Theatre 1, Life Sciences Building, University of
Tasmania, Sandy Bay. Access and parking are from College Road or from the parking
area outside the University Centre via the pedestrian bridge over Churchill Avenue.
REMEMBER that the November General Meeting will be at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday, 12
November. If you pop that in your diary now, you won’t be reliant on my being well on
time with Yellow Throat. The speaker for November will be Peter Marmion, and I will
give a brief for his talk in November’s edition.
‘Eradicate’ available now
The latest edition of Eradicate, the newsletter from Biosecurity Tasmania’s Invasive
Species Branch, is now available from the DPIPWE website.
Articles in this Winter 2015 edition include:
• Not wanted: Didymo;
• Practising good weed hygiene;
• Watch out for moss balls;
• Your invasive questions;
• Rabbit calicivirus release;
• Community thwarts another Indian Myna;
• Tasmania’s Cat Plan.
Download a copy now.
Or,
visit the DPIPWE website for more information.
Australian Biosecurity Awards now open
Nominations for the 2016 Australian biosecurity awards opened on Monday, 3 August,
and close on Wednesday, 30 September. Award winners will be determined by the
Australian Biosecurity Awards selection panel and the awards will be presented at the
ABARES Outlook conference in Canberra on Tuesday, 1 March 2016.
There are three award categories:
• Australian Biosecurity Award — Industry;
• Australian Biosecurity Award — Government;
• Biosecurity Lifetime Achievement Award.
Eligibility
Australian Biosecurity Awards recognise businesses, industry and government
organisations, teams and individuals that:
• design, implement and/or lead biosecurity reform initiatives within their organisation
and/or industry sector to support Australia’s biosecurity integrity;
• demonstrate significant biosecurity integrity and raise biosecurity awareness within
their operations and/or industry sector;
• collaboratively work with the department to manage biosecurity risk;
• identify, report and/or lead the management of a disease outbreak or pest incursion;
• report suspicious activities that may be of biosecurity concern;
• make an outstanding contribution to protecting or maintaining animal or plant health;
• raise awareness of Australia’s biosecurity requirements offshore.
David Banks Biosecurity Lifetime Achievement Award
The David Banks Biosecurity Lifetime Achievement Award recognises individuals,
teams or organisations who have made an outstanding contribution beyond their normal
duties to Australian biosecurity over a long time. To be eligible, nominees should have:
• ten or more years of sustained contribution to Australian biosecurity;
• made a significant contribution to Australian biosecurity in the areas of research,
industry achievement, professional leadership or service.
Applicants will be assessed against these criteria:
• history of service;
• contribution to Australian biosecurity;
• leadership within industry in supporting and promoting Australian biosecurity.
Government sector nominees are not eligible for the David Banks Biosecurity Lifetime
Achievement Award.
For further information visit the website at www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity/australia/
public-awareness/aba
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Book review
[email protected]). BFD is manifested with feather loss and abnormal bill shape,
and cases are relatively easy to spot in flocks.
Bob Holderness-Rodham
Penguins: Their World, Their Ways, by Tui De Roy, Mark Jones and Julie
Cornthwaite. Published by CSIRO, Collingwood, 2013. Available from
State Library of Tasmania, 598.47 DER.
At nearly two kilograms, this exquisite book is clearly not a field guide, though it
would be a useful volume to carry in a vehicle around New Zealand’s South Island or on
an Antarctic cruise vessel.
Claimed to be the first book ‘to comprehensively cover all of the 18 penguin species
in an engaging blend of accessible writing, the latest scientific research and over 400
breathtaking photographs’; I think it lives up to these claims admirably.
Divided into three parts, it is easy to find information about particular species, such as
the Little Penguin that is found in Tasmania.
The first part, by Tui De Roy, provides a general introduction to the different penguin
families. The Little Penguin is in a section with the Yellow-eyed Penguin of New
Zealand: ‘Fairies of the night: an odd couple’.
Mark Jones edits and contributes to the second part, which deals with the science and
conservation of penguins. A team of 17 specialist writers covers various aspects of
penguin biology and threats to their existence. Dr André Chiaradia relates how Little
Penguins have adapted their diet to mitigate the loss of their former principal prey, the
Sardine*, by changing to species higher up the food chain.
Part three, by Julie Cornthwaite, deals with the natural history of each species in a
series of double-page spreads. This includes physical description, population and
distribution, breeding, food and threats. There is also a distribution map for each species.
The photography, as claimed, is superb, and serves to add to and break up the text. It
is a sad reflection on today’s photography that the publishers had to add a note that ‘they
have all been taken in wild and free conditions and images have not been digitally
manipulated’.
The design is good, with pages being laid out in columns to aid readability. My only
quibble is that the text is in a sans serif face. Research clearly shows that body text is
more readable when in a serif typeface such as Times Roman, Garamond or Baskerville.
* In passing, the Sardine population crash in southern Australian waters was apparently
triggered by a disease introduced with imported sardines to feed Tuna in fish farms.
The local species had little immunity to this exotic disease.
Beak and Feather Disease
Following closely on from the reports of Beak and Feather Disease (BFD) in Orangebellied Parrots at Melaleuca last summer, we have received several reports of Sulphurcrested Cockatoos with BFD (see picture) from Hobart and Brighton. We have also
received a recent report from the Hobart Domain of an Eastern Rosella apparently
suffering from BFD. If you have any similar records of cockatoos, parrots, rosellas and
lorikeets that appear to have BFD, please send any details to Eric Woehler (via
Major breakthrough in fight to save Asian vultures from
extinction
BirdLife International
A major step for the future of vultures in Asia has been announced by the Indian Ministry
of Health. A ban of multidose vials of human formulations of diclofenac, which is
responsible for the death of tens of millions of Asia’s vultures, has come into force with
immediate effect.
Read the full article »
National Bird Week
This year, during National Bird Week in October, the national office of Birdlife Australia
is organising ‘Twitchathons’ around the country. In Tasmania, Mona Loofs-Samorzewski
is undertaking the organisation of a Twitchathon on the weekend of Saturday, 24
October, and Sunday, 25 October.
It must be stressed that this event is being organised under the auspices of Birdlife
Australia rather than the State branch, and so all your enquiries and communications
should be directed to Mona rather than to anyone on the State Executive: we won’t know
what is going on!
This should be a fun event for all keen twitchers, and it is being held in a good cause.
If twitching is your thing, I would encourage you to sign up as soon as possible. A flyer
prepared by Mona appears on the next page (page 3).
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The Magpie Whisperer
Here’s a cute video to provide some relief from all those ‘cute cat’ videos that appear on
the net:
https://www.facebook.com/themagpiewhisperer/videos/762406743853480/?fref=nf
The oldest recorded Pacific Gull
TASMANIAN
TWITCHATHON
7 am Sat 24th October to 7 am Sun 25th October 2015
for NATIONAL BIRD WEEK
Identify as many bird species as you can
during a 24 hour or 8 hour period
ANYWHERE IN TASMANIA
Open to all ages
and interests!
Collect sponsorship money for
bird conservation
Contact Mona for more information:
[email protected] or phone: 0439 567 630
Reported by Alan Fletcher
‘I’ve attached a record I recently received from ABBBS that might be something for the
newsletter — appears to be one of or even the oldest Pacific Gull record. I can recall
going out with Ken Harris on a few occasions to Visscher Island; it was always an
“interesting” trip re swells and the safety of landing!’
The original report comes from the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme run by
the national Department of the Environment. It reads as follows:
FINDING DETAILS
Band Number: 110-96984 was recovered on 03/08/2015
At: EAGLEHAWK NECK, PIRATE BAY, TASMANIA
Latitude: 43 deg 1min 3 sec S; Longitude: 147deg 55 min 35sec E
The bird was: FOUND BEACH-WASHED OR FLOATING IN SEA OR
FRESHWATER
And: WAS DEAD AND THE BAND WAS LEFT ON
The finder’s details are held by the ABBBS.
BANDING DETAILS
You placed this band on a (n): Pacific Gull, scientific name Larus pacificus
On: 31/12/1983
At: VISSCHER ISLAND, TASMANIA
Latitude: 42deg 51min 0sec S; Longitude: 147deg 59min 0sec E
The bird was age code: NESTLING; sex code: UNKNOWN
The time between banding and recovery was 31 years 7 months 3 days. The
bird had moved a distance of 19 km with a bearing of 196 degrees.
Tasmanian Sugar Gliders?
Preliminary results of the DNA analyses of Tasmanian Sugar Gliders were reported at a
conference recently:
IACRC PhD student, Catriona Campbell, presented her research, ‘Sugar gliders in
Tasmania: an introduced predator or an elusive native?’, at the 2015 Genetics Society of
AustralAsia Conference, with her poster being highly commended by the conference
committee.
The Sugar Glider has been implicated in the predation of the endangered Swift Parrot
in Tasmania. Where the two species are found living together, it has been reported that
100% of Swift Parrot nests fail due to loss of eggs or chicks, with adult birds
occasionally being preyed upon as well. Historical records suggest that Sugar Gliders
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were introduced to Tasmania from mainland Australia in 1835 with no known sightings
of the species before this time. The Tasmanian Sugar Glider population is now
widespread, but their origins have never been investigated. Without intervention to
prevent the presumed predation by Sugar Gliders, the Swift Parrot is predicted to go
extinct within two decades.
To determine appropriate management of gliders around Swift Parrot nesting sites,
establishment of the origin of Tasmanian Sugar Gliders was urgent. Preliminary mitochondrial data suggest the Tasmanian population is a recent introduction, with all
Tasmanian sequences being identical to each other at both mitochondrial genes.
Tasmanian sequences showed little to no genetic variation from sequences
originating from Victoria and South Australia. Further research using a genotype by
sequencing approach is underway: this will further clarify these findings. Management
implications of a recent introduction to the island are high and researchers with the Swift
Parrot recovery team are looking at novel ways to prevent further predation of this highly
endangered native parrot.
See: http://www.pestsmart.org.au/ia-crc-research-in-focus-at-the-genetics-societyconference/
‘My’ pale kookaburra
Sandra Henderson, 18 July 2015
I live on part of the Meehan Range in Acton Park — the Lauderdale end. We have a
lightly treed bush block. This little fellow has been here for a while now, although I have
only just managed to snap him during the last fortnight. The first time I saw him, I
thought I was looking at a cockatoo... until I realised his body shape was too different!
He has two friends that are ‘normal’ coloured. I have spotted him daily for the last week.
A pale, pale kooky. © Sandra Henderson
Mike Newman was delighted to see an image of this particular bird: he had seen the bird
itself, but had been unable to get a shot of it. He kindly wrote and article about it.
An almost white kookaburra
Cute but carnivorous: Sugar Gliders are implicated in the plummeting number of Swift Parrots —
and they are, it seems, feral in Tasmania.
Over recent years we have received quite a few pictures and articles about birds with
unusual colouring. It seems that non-standard pigmentation is not really as rare as we
are likely to think. The following articles are about another example.
Mike Newman
On 23 June I spotted a very pale Kookaburra perched on overhead lines on Acton Road
near the Lauderdale School. Further investigation indicated that the bird had retained
some faint brown colouration in the eye patch as well as on the tail. The soft parts and
eye colour were normal, indicating that it was a leucistic* as opposed to an albino
plumaged bird. Over the next two weeks I looked, but failed to find the bird on several
occasions. Hence, I was delighted when the attached photograph turned up courtesy of
Sandra Henderson, a local resident. At the time of writing (mid-July) Sandra had seen the
bird in the company of two normally plumaged Laughing Kookaburras on a number of
occasions over the previous week.
There is an excellent overview of leucism in a paper titled ‘Aberrations in plumage
Coloration in birds’ in Australian Field Ornithology (March 2012, pages 23–30) by
Guay, Potvin and Robinson. They indicate that colours in bird plumages are provided by
the deposition of a combination of pigments in feathers. The most common pigments are
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melanins, which give rise to black and brown colours. Leucism results from the complete
lack of melanin from all or part of the plumage, but not necessarily from the soft parts.
Albinism involves lack of melanin in both the plumage and soft parts (e.g. bill and feet)
and involves a pink eye. A condition known as melanism provides the opposite extreme
in the range of plumage variation, where birds have abnormally high levels of melanin
and are extremely dark. The Australian Field Ornithology paper provides photographs of
albino and melanistic Laughing Kookaburras. HANZAB mentions reports of leucistic
kookaburras and suggests that aberrantly plumaged individuals may be quite common,
quoting Parry as suggesting there could be up to 5% albino birds based on her 1970 book
on kookaburras. However, Guay et al. suggest many leucistic birds are incorrectly
termed albino, which is a rare condition involving poor eyesight, which presumably
implies low survival rates.
While living in NSW a leucistic Noisy Miner intermittently visited our garden over an
18-month period. In this case the bird was nearly completely white other than the patch
of yellowish/green colour in the wings and the soft parts. This bird seemed to be well
accepted by the rest of the Noisy Miner colony.
Leucism is the most common form of plumage aberration and has been described in
many bird species. It seems to be more frequent in urban than in rural populations.
Mutations are a well-known cause of plumage variations and involve the absence of
enzymes essential to the production of melanins. This has been exploited by selective
breeding in aviary populations. A high level of leucistic swallows around Chernobyl in
the Ukraine was attributed to high levels of radioactivity following the nuclear
catastrophe there in 1987. Diet is also considered to be one of the causes of leucism and
in Common Blackbirds it has been suggested this may be a consequence of a proteindeficient diet in urban areas.
Sandra and I have both been struck by the exceptional beauty of these leucistic
plumaged birds. I well remember the extraordinary sight of a flock of Noisy Miners
descending into Kangaroo Paws surrounding this extraordinary bird that looked like a
pure white dove.
Senate Inquiry into Tasmania’s Fin-fish
Aquaculture
The Senate Committee examining Tasmania’s fin-fish aquaculture industry has released
its report. BirdLife Tasmania made a submission to the Inquiry but was not asked to
appear before the Committee. The final report is available at http://www.aph.gov.au/
Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/FinFish/Report.
Fjordland Penguins
Two Fjordland Penguins were recorded from the east and south-east during the winter
months. One was severely injured, with lower abdominal and leg injuries consistent with
being struck by a small boat’s propeller. Unfortunately, the bird could not be saved by
veterinarians and was humanely euthanised. The second penguin was also injured, but
required only minor surgery. That penguin is now in a rehabilitation facility until it is
ready for release.
* I may have incorrectly agreed that the Kookaburra plumage was leucistic. More careful reading
of Guay et al. in AFO suggests that the plumage may be schizochroistic. In leucistic plumages
all pigments are lost from some or all of the feathers. In schizochroistic plumages a single
pigment is missing. In the case of the kookaburra, I think that just the black pigment, which is
known as eumelanin, is missing, making this bird a non-eumelanin schizochroistic bird. (What a
mouthful, and so much easier to say leucistic.) You will note that the kookaburra seems to retain
some brown phaeomelanin pigment as evidenced by the eye stripe and the tail bars.
What I have written is not necessarily wrong as another interpretation would be that melanin
pigment is only missing from some feathers.
Bonorong donation
BirdLife Tasmania made a donation to the Bonorong Wildlife Centre to support their
efforts to build Tasmania’s first wildlife clinic. It is hoped that the clinic will be
constructed before the end of the year. BirdLife Tasmania supports Bonorong and the
Raptor Refuge Centre in their efforts to rescue and rehabilitate Tasmania’s birds.
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Tasmanian Threatened Birds, August 2015
Species
Acanthiza pusilla archibaldi
Acanthornis magna greeniana
Accipiter novaehollandiae
Aquila audax fleayi
Botaurus poiciloptilus
Calidris ferruginea
Ceyx azureus diemenensis
Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae erythrotis
Diomedea exulans
Dromaius minor
Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis
Gallirallus philippensis macquariensis
Haliaeetus leucogaster
Halobaena caerulea
Lathamus discolor
Leucocarbo atriceps purpurascens
Macronectes giganteus
Macronectes halli
Neophema chrysogaster
Numenius madagascariensis
Oceanites oceanicus
Pachyptila turtur subantarctica
Pardalotus quadragintus
Phoebetria fusca
Phoebetria palpebrata
Platycercus caledonicus brownii
Podiceps cristatus
Procellaria cinerea
Pterodroma lessonii
Pterodroma mollis
Sterna striata
Sterna vittata bethunei
Sternula albifrons sinensis
Sternula nereis nereis
Thalassarche cauta
Thalassarche chrysostoma
Thalassarche melanophrys
Thinornis rubricollis rubricollis
Tyto novaehollandiae castanops
Common Name
Tasmania EPBC
Brown Thornbill (King Island)
E
EN
Scrubtit (King Island)
E
CR
Grey Goshawk
E
Wedge-tailed Eagle
E
EN
Australasian Bittern
EN
Curlew Sandpiper
​
CR
Tasmanian Azure Kingfisher
E
EN
Macquarie Island Parakeet
X
EX
Wandering Albatross
E
VU
King Island Emu
X
EX
Tasmanian Emu
X
EX
Macquarie Island Rail
X
EX
White-bellied Sea-Eagle
V
Blue Petrel
V
VU
Swift Parrot
E
EN
Macquarie Island Shag
V
VU
Southern Giant Petrel
V
EN
Northern Giant Petrel
R
VU
Orange-bellied Parrot
E
CR
Eastern Curlew
E
CR
Wilson's Storm Petrel
R
Fairy Prion southern sub-species
E
VU
Forty-spotted Pardalote
E
EN
Sooty Albatross
R
VU
Light-mantled Albatross
V
King Island Green Rosella
V
Great Crested Grebe
V
Grey Petrel
E
White-headed Petrel
V
Soft-plumaged Petrel
E
VU
White-fronted Tern
V
Antarctic Tern
E
EN
Little Tern
E
Fairy Tern
V
VU
Shy Albatross
V
VU
Grey-headed Albatross
E
EN
Black-browed Albatross
E
VU
Hooded Plover (Eastern)
​
VU
Masked Owl
E
VU
DPIPWE have updated the list of Threatened Fauna in Tasmania. The list is available at
http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/conservation/threatened-species/lists-of-threatened-species/
threatened-species-vertebrates and includes the Hooded Plover (Eastern) that was
recently uplisted to ‘Threatened’ under the Federal EPBC Act. In addition, Eastern
Curlew and Curlew Sandpiper have been added to the Tasmanian list following their
uplisting as ‘Critically Endangered’ in Australia.
Scalefish fishery management review
BirdLife Tasmania prepared a submission to the review of the DPIPWE Scalefish
Fishery Management Plan, continuing our efforts in support of a prohibition of
recreational gillnetting in Tasmania. Gillnets are widely recognised as drowning
penguins, shearwaters and cormorants, but the Tasmanian Government is unwilling to
prohibit their use. With approximately 10,000 registered recreational gillnets and mullet
nets in Tasmania, the impacts of these nets on seabirds is unknown, but there is plenty of
evidence of the fatal interactions between birds and nets.
Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) drowned in a gillnet. © DPIPWE
Invasive Species Workshop
Birdlife Tasmania was invited to a workshop exploring how to improve institutional
arrangements for citizen action on invasive species. The one-day workshop was the
fourth of a national series held under the auspices of the Invasive Animals Cooperative
Research Centre (CRC). A follow-up series of workshops will be held in October.
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CEO visit
BirdLife Australia CEO Paul Sullivan accepted our invitation to attend the BirdLife
Tasmania Executive Committee meeting in August. BirdLife Tasmania is recognised as
one of the more active branches of the national organisation, and the visit allowed Paul
and the Executive to discuss BirdLife Tasmania’s far-ranging activities and operations.
Saltmarsh training
BirdLife Tasmania is working with Vishnu Prahalad from the Geography Department at
the University of Tasmania in a program designed to raise awareness of the values of
coastal saltmarshes around Tasmania. The program provides identification guides for
saltmarsh plants and includes survey and monitoring components. A training session for
trainers and saltmarsh managers was held at Sorell followed by a field visit to Orielton
Lagoon. A session for users will be held at the Landcare Conference in October. For
further details, contact Vishnu Prahalad at [email protected].
on the Australian Guardian website: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/
09/threatened-australian-wildlife-at-grave-risk-from-habitat-loss-study-finds. A related
article is ‘Little left to lose: deforestation and forest degradation in Australia since
European colonization’, by Corey J.A. Bradshaw, which appears in the Journal of Plant
Ecology, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 109–120, March 2012.
Bonorong’s early babies
Jason Graham, 16 August
I’ve attached a few shots of the Cape Barren goslings that have just hatched at Bonorong.
The family of geese free-ranges at the sanctuary. This morning when I was mowing the
lawns I took a few shots of the four-day old siblings.
Habitat loss and its effect on endangered
species
Samantha Vine, the Head of Conservation at Birdlife Australia, sent the following email
to Dr Eric Woehler on 9 July 2015:
‘Tomorrow we will be releasing a report, co-authored with the Australian Conservation Foundation and Environmental Justice Australia, that examines whether recovery
plans are working to protect the habitat of our most endangered animals.
‘BirdLife is a strong advocate of recovery planning and the great job these plans do in
bringing together the knowledge, science and actions needed to recover threatened
species. However, our analysis shows that most plans aren’t doing a very good job of
protecting habitat at the moment.
‘The report finds that of the 120 endangered and critically endangered animals
covered by recovery plans, only 12 (10%) had plans that placed any prescriptive limits
on the future loss of habitat. This is despite the fact that 80 (67%) of them listed habitat
loss as a significant threat and recommended active protection of habitat.
‘Recovery plans have the potential to be powerful tools for the protection of
threatened species: the report documents a couple of good examples where recovery
plans clearly prescribe limits to the loss of habitat (it can be as simple as stating ‘there
should be no land clearing in areas identified as critical habitat’ as it does in the recovery
plan for the Golden-shouldered Parrot) and makes a series of recommendations to
improve the operation of recovery planning instruments.
‘The report will be released tomorrow after which time it will be available from the
website.’
The report is titled Recovery Planning: Restoring Life to our Threatened Species and can
be referred to on the Birdlife Australia website. An article discussing the report appeared
All three were delightful pictures, but this is the shot I chose: I love the straw in the mouth.
© Jason Graham
Excursions
Meehan Range Reserve, Cambridge
26 April 2015
This park is very popular with mountain bikers and we usually see several on our walk
but it doesn’t seem to affect the number of birds around. On this day, however, as well as
bikers, we had people walking their dogs and an orienteering competition!
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Despite the crowds we had a pleasant walk in weather that held fine for the morning.
We did not see a wide range of species but some of the birds like the fairy-wrens, Brown
Thornbills and GreyFantails were in plentiful supply. The first birds you always see are
the native-hens beside the dirt road as you drive up to the entrance. We were delighted to
see a pair of Scarlet Robins near the start of the track and another pair further in. The
distinctive call of a Golden Whistler could be heard and we finally tracked down a male
perched on a branch in clear view. The highlight of the morning occurred as we were
about to leave. A flash of iridescence was spotted in the bushes and after waiting
patiently the bird finally revealed itself to be a Shining Bronze-Cuckoo.
Bird list: Tasmanian Native-hen, Green Rosella, Musk Lorikeet, Yellow-throated
Honeyeater, Grey Fantail, Brown Thornbill, Golden Whistler, Superb Fairy-wren,
Spotted Pardalote, Silvereye, Forest Raven, Scarlet Robin, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo.
Notes from the Raptor Refuge
Craig Webb
Dear birdlovers of Tasmania and beyond — well, I begin my regular Raptor Refuge
article by announcing hot off the presses, the 2016 calendar. It is an absolute beauty,
with a slight change in the images — for the first time in the 9-year history of our
fundraising calendar, we have listened to feedback and have added just a few photos of
wild raptors: birds in flight etc. Nonetheless, most of the stunning birds pictured are
current or past patients at the refuge, so please get behind our mission and support us by
buying a couple of the exquisite 2016 Raptor Refuge calendars. Please click here to buy
one: http://www.raptorrefuge.com.au/product-category/calendars.
Superb Fairy-wren. © Matt Trenery
Risdon Brook Dam
17 May 2015
A great day at the dam with birds galore. From the carpark you could hear Australian
Magpies and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos in the trees. As we set out to walk clockwise
around the dam, several Galahs flew overhead. Crossing over the dam wall we followed
a track up the hillside on the left and were very happy to see three pairs of Scarlet
Robins. We also disturbed a couple of wallabies. Returning to the dam we could see a
number of Eurasian Coots as well as Hardheads, Pacific Black Duck and an Australasian
Grebe on the water. There were Brown Thornbills and fairy-wrens in the bushes and a
small flock of Yellow-rumped Thornbills foraged on the grass. Continuing on around the
dam we saw an Eastern Spinebill and also a Dusky Robin, a bird I haven’t seen in a
while. This all made it a very worthwhile morning.
Bird list: Musk Lorikeet, Tasmanian Native-hen, Australian Magpie, Galah, Sulphurcrested Cockatoo, Green Rosella, Forest Raven, Scarlet Robin, Eurasian Coot, Brown
Thornbill, Grey Currawong, Striated Pardalote, Masked Lapwing, Yellow-rumped
Thornbill, Hardhead, Pacific Black Duck, Silvereye, Australasian Grebe, Grey Fantail,
Eastern Spinebill, Dusky Robin, Yellow-throated Honeyeater, Eastern Rosella, Noisy Miner.
There are always amazing stories that come to me from members of the public who
come across injured or distressed raptors. Recently I had a call from a local bloke who
witnessed an altercation between a juvenile female Brown Goshawk and a ‘Turbo
Chook’. It happened in Oyster Cove during that cold and wet week in mid August; the
goshawk tried to take out the turbo chook, and the native-hen then dragged the goshawk
through a barbed wire fence. In doing so it suffered some severe feather damage and,
most probably, more internal injuries. The bloke watching ran down to see the goshawk
let go and flap into the nearby fast-flowing creek, where our ‘man on a mission’ took
chase and headed downstream to capture the bird, which he did. On returning past the
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turbo chook, he knocked it on the head because blood was jetting out of it and it was
beyond help, he felt. (I did later suggest he could have brought it to me as well as the
goshawk.) Anyway, once the goshawk arrived here it was in a bad way, cold and very
very skinny, and, sadly, didn’t make the night. I chatted to Nick Mooney about the
incident: as always, the walking encyclopedia told me that the condition that this bird
was in was referred to as ‘Yarak’, where the bird gets so hungry it will stop at nothing to
try to get tucker. Apparently, in ages past falconers sought after this state in hawks.
Thanks, Nick, for the info.
And then there was the sad case of a beautiful Grey Goshawk, a large female. She hit
the roofrack of a vet’s car in Northern Tasmania, of all people, and was ferried across the
top of Tasmania, down the east coast, where she spent a night at East Coast Natureworld, until the journey continued next day to Kettering. She was then taken to Mayfair
Veterinary Clinic on the Monday morning for an X-ray, which sadly uncovered a
smashed wrist bone, and so she was destined to be a display bird as the best option, so I
was nursing her back to health, strapped and confined to a smallish slatted mews and
monitored via CCTV, when 8 days after she came in I was routinely clicking on cams
and she was flat on her back. A quick run up from the house to her mews found her sort
of paralysed, but her head and eyes were as alert as ever, even though her body was stiff
and it was like she was frozen 80% from the head down. Very distressing, so I brought
her into my home and made a sort of goshawk bed in my lounge room. After a few
minutes of discussion with Dr James Harris, we planned to see how she was in the
morning. Hmm... no change... so off to the vet to get the diagnosis, which was that she
had had a thrombosis, which was basically a clot that had entered the bloodstream and
had jammed somewhere near the spine. Sadly there was no option, but it pained me
dearly to give the nod. Yet another beautiful creature gone. Apparently these thromboses
tend to happen 7, 8 or 9 days after initial trauma, which was precisely the timeframe in
this case.
And, so you can see that we haven’t been twiddling our thumbs here, these are a few
of our recent patients: Brown Goshawk ☓ 4; Tawny Frogmouth ☓ 3; Wedge-tailed
Eagle ☓ 2; White-bellied Sea-Eagle ☓ 1; Southern Boobook ☓ 3; Masked Owl ☓ 3;
Collared Sparrowhawk ☓ 1; Brown Falcon ☓ 1; Grey Goshawk ☓ 1; to name but a
few...
And to finish on a happy note, we have a new permanent resident here at the refuge
— an ambassador for the raptors of Tasmania and, in particular, Tasmania’s Masked Owl
fraternity, is pictured here in the next column. Otis is a beautiful male that is a captivebred bird from Simon Plowright and crew at East Coast Natureworld, Bicheno. The
circle of life is surreal as this particular bird (and believe me when I say he is stunningly
gorgeous!) is actually the son of a bird who had had a smashed humerus and which I sent
to Simon a couple of years ago to pair up with a female that he had. Happily Simon sent
this bird Otis down and he had done a lot of the hard work to have Otis glove ready so
that he can become an educational tool and a stunning addition to our team. We are truly
thrilled.
So, until next time, please watch the skies for our feathered friends and if any wonderful
raptor stories are itching to get out, feel free to contact me to share the awesomeness.
Otis, resting on the glove, ready for his new career as an educational tool. © Raptor Refuge
9
Major breakthrough in fight to save Asian vultures from extinction
A major step for the future of vultures in Asia has been announced by the Indian Ministry
of Health. A ban of multi-dose vials of human formulations of diclofenac, which is
responsible for the death of tens of millions of Asia’s vultures, has come into force with
immediate effect.
Great news for Pacific seabirds and marine mammals as Russia bans
driftnet fishery
This is great news for a region that BirdLife recently highlighted as killing an estimated
140,000 seabirds each year. However, bycatch in gillnet fisheries is a huge global
problem that we are not shying away from. Read on to find out more about this problem
and how we are solving it.
Decision Point
A Hardhead floating at rest on Risdon Brook Dam. © Jason Graham
Links
The August issue of Decision Point tells you almost everything you may want to know
about biodiversity offsets. Find it and all other published issues at:
http://decision-point.com.au/past-issues/.
Avian language skills
PestSmart’s Feral Flyer
Birds, it seems, can learn the languages of other species (ANU):
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-17/biologists-prove-how-birds-can-learn-foreignlanguages/6628474.
PestSmart is administered by the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre,
University of Canberra. Its latest fortnightly newsletter, Feral Flyer, can be found at:
Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre.
Cat control
Inverawe Native Gardens
Information on a new, RSPCA endorsed, poison for cats — Curiosity:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/feral-animals-australia/
feral-cats.
Inverawe’s Spring newsletter can be downloaded or read at:
http://www.inverawe.com.au/news.html.
Fishing for litter
It seems that all over people are all too ready to believe that their comfort is much more
important than anything in the natural world:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11749512/Seagull-poisoned-in-backlashagainst-attacks-by-the-birds.html.
This website is in German, so probably only a few can get benefit from it. However, the
crux of the matter is that, in Germany, the project Fishing for Litter is run by the BirdLife
partner, the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), in cooperation with
the fishing and public sector. The project is simple: Fishers are given large collection
bags in which they collect the garbage that gets caught in their fishing gear. They bring
these back to the port, where the waste is then sorted, analysed and disposed of for free.
This seems a good way to involve recreational fishers.
https://www.nabu.de/natur-und-landschaft/aktionen-und-projekte/meere-ohne-plastik/
fishing-for-litter/
From BirdLife International
How to save albatrosses from bycatch — video
The instructional film clearly shows threats albatrosses and other seabirds are faced with,
and how the crucial work of the BirdLife Marine Programme is teaching fishermen how
to help save them!
Tough times for gulls in the UK
Book review 2
Australian Predators of the Sky, by Penny Olsen. Published by NLA
(National Library of Australia) Publishing, Canberra, September 2015.
RRP $39.99, 216 pp., foreword by Sean Dooley.
Penny Olsen, as well as being a world authority on birds of prey, is an Associate
Professor in the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University,
Canberra, and author of more than 20 books. Many members of Birdlife Tasmania will
remember with fondness and nostalgia Penny’s considerable stretch as Editor of
Wingspan, the former quarterly journal of Birds Australia.
This is a gorgeous book. The publishers, editor and designer have done everything
10
possible to complement the subject matter, even down to choosing a cream stock that
avoids reading glare and enhances the illustrations, which are crucial to the text. The
book has more than 200 illustrations that generally cover the time from first European
settlement to around 1935, but also including works by later illustrators such as Frank
Knight and Betty Temple Watts. All 34 Australian species (25 diurnal birds of prey and 9
owls) are represented.
The text comprises ‘Discovering Australia’s birds of prey’, ‘About Australia’s birds of
prey’, ‘Birds of prey — diurnal’, ‘Birds of prey — nocturnal’, ‘Biographies of artists’,
‘List of illustrations’ and ‘Further reading’. It is a well-written and informative book that
will give great pleasure to anyone with an interest in the topic. (And which may well
awaken an interest in those who have never beforehand thought about birds of prey.)
Native vegetation doesn’t stop at the beach:
part 3
Phil Watson
How can we look after the seagrass meadows?
Seagrass meadows continue to disappear and no one seems to notice!
When loggers go into a forest and cut down the trees it’s very conspicuous and keen
environmentalists often respond by protesting and attracting lots of media interest.
However, when areas of seagrass meadow are damaged or destroyed, most folk are
blissfully unaware. Out of sight and out of mind sums it up.
Regrettably the rate of loss of seagrass is accelerating because people love living
alongside sheltered estuarine and coastal waters, which results in interaction with seagrasses at a local scale. The biggest killers of seagrass are local activities such as nutrient
from agriculture and urban runoff, sewerage outfalls and developments such as marinas,
jetties and ports. However, it is not always local issues — there is increasing evidence
that some of the more temperate species of seagrass are suffering from the warmer water
associated with global temperature increase.
Worrisomely, it is estimated that 40% of the world’s seagrasses have been lost and,
within Australia, there are some recent graphic examples of seagrass decimation. For
example, in Western Port Bay, Victoria, from 1974 to 1984, 85% of seagrass disappeared
due to fine silt flows into the bay, whilst in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia, an
estimated 80% of seagrasses were lost due to human activities over the last 40 years.
The blue carbon sinks under seagrass beds are leaking!
‘Blue carbon’ describes the natural processes by which atmospheric carbon is captured
and stored in marine plants and sediment. In coastal ecosystem sediments and plants,
including seagrasses, saltmarshes and mangroves, carbon is sequestered and buried
disproportionately more than is the case with carbon in forests. If the seagrass meadows
are destroyed, then the plants are lost, allowing sediments that have accumulated over
hundreds, if not thousands, of years to erode, releasing the blue carbon back into the
atmosphere. Erosion of one metre is not uncommon! This represents thousands of years
of accumulated carbon that is free to leak out from under the decimated seagrass
meadows.
Can we help? Community supported monitoring and revegetation
The good news story is that there are recent examples of successful community
supported seagrass revegetation and monitoring projects. These act as an inspiration for
local and regional long-term restoration projects where seagrass loss has remained a
sleeping giant, begging to be awoken. Arguably the best example to model for future
initiatives comes from Oyster Harbour, Albany, which lost nearly all its seagrass between
the 1960s and 1980s. The long-term restoration process started in the mid-1990s once the
sources of pollution and turbidity had been eliminated. The project was aided by coastal
volunteers who manually revegetated by planting sprigs of seagrass rhizomes across the
broad areas of denuded sediment.
Similar success has been achieved by Professor Gary Kendrick’s team (University of
WA) in the recent Cockburn Sound revegetation trials. These stretched over four years
and involved 10,000 individual sprigs (not many compared to a paddock of wheat) being
individually planted by tent-peg-wielding (to make holes for the sprigs) community
volunteers. There are many locations in Tasmania such as Ralph’s Bay at Lauderdale that
would benefit from a trial akin to these WA success stories. This site, which had lost
nearly all its seagrass by the 1970s, has benefited from the significant water quality
improvements that are due to the Derwent Estuary Program, and now is potentially good
enough to support a seagrass revegetation project.
Pathways to directing the spotlight onto seagrass
Perhaps the most difficult issue facing resource managers as they try to protect
seagrasses is implementation of management plans to reduce nutrients and sediments
from both diffuse and point sources in surrounding catchments, especially where
catchments cross jurisdictional boundaries.
Because the environment is frequently changing from one site to the next and from
day to day, there is a real need to conduct repeated monitoring in local areas so that
changes can be detected. With new techniques including photo-reference points, it would
be feasible to develop a Community Seagrass Monitoring Program that involved
collaboration between community members and experts to monitor and preserve seagrass
across Tasmania. (This is akin to Queensland’s successful ‘Seagrass Watch Program’.)
Although Tasmania has substantial areas of seagrass, there is presently very little in
the way of local and no regional coordinated approach to either monitoring or restoring
seagrasses in Tasmania. Valued, professional but non-community-based monitoring
projects have occurred (such as the Derwent Estuary Program’s seagrass monitoring
project, which recently mapped the extent of seagrass distribution in the upper Derwent
estuary using cutting-edge technology, and which delivered excellent baseline data for
future monitoring).
Seagrass monitoring is a necessary but insufficient conservation activity because
sometimes remedial actions are less than fully effective in halting the decline once it is
detected. One of the key means of improving the conservation status and awareness of
seagrasses is listing them under State and Australian Government legislation.
11
When managers are aware that, like saltmarshes, seagrasses are not self-contained
ecological communities, but are functional components of coastal and estuarine environments that are integrally connected to neighbouring communities which support and
depend on larger scale processes, it becomes obvious that there is a robust reason for
legislative protection to be afforded to seagrass. Temperate and subtropical saltmarsh
communities are listed as threatened ecological communities under the EPBC Act.
The good news is that the southern strapweed, Posidonia australis complex, has for
some time been listed as a threatened ecological community under the NSW Fisheries
Management Act and, just recently, under the federal EPBC Act. However, other worthy
seagrass community complexes still remain unprotected by legislation.
been attacking prey? Was it a courtship event? Is this a known form of Wedge-tailed
behaviour? Or was I simply fortunate enough to capture a couple of images of Jonathan
Livingston Wedge-tail? In all my time, I have only ever seen these beautiful birds swoop,
glide, or show an amazing aerial agility for something their size. But dive...?
I am itching to hear your thoughts.
Final wash-up
Enough of the science and promotion of the forgotten world of the seagrass! It was a
long, tiring, yet stimulating day dedicated to an inspiring blend of physical and mental
activity linking invigorating snorkelling with attention-grabbing seagrass web surfing. It
culminated in an early night when sleep came easily, even though that big skate created
some interesting dreams!
The wings just beginning to open. © John Reid
Pulling away to the right, and out of the dive. © John Reid
Nick Mooney’s response
Hooded Plover pair amid wrack of seaweed and seagrass strands.
Wedge-tailed display
John Reid, email to the Secretary, 13 August
I went across to Forth (from Devonport) for lunch today and, while over that way,
stopped at Braddon’s Lookout. Never know what there may be to shoot (but only ever
with my faithful 6D!). Movement caught my eye. I had time to whip out and mount the
300 mm lens, focus, and hit the shutter release, squeezing off a bracket of five shots.
Three are off frame but I have attached the other two... with a question.
What I witnessed was something I have never before seen in three-quarters of a century,
a Wedge-tailed Eagle in a closed-wing dive. Does our Wedgie do this? Would it have
Hi. Nice photos.
I’m surprised you haven’t seen it before — it’s an adult male wedgy ‘pot-hooking‘ —
the standard territorial display of Aquilas. It’s usually done in response to seeing
neighboring conspecifics flying, especially soaring; sometimes even sea-eagles since
they compete to a degree. Adult females only do it in a very half-hearted fashion. All
Aquila eagles do it.
You’ll note the tail fanned and head up, posturing. It’s an aerial threat. Also note the
tail is a neat wedge shape, indicating a male. Females have noticeably longer middle two
rectrices giving the tail a distinct extended tip, not just a point.
Brolgas at Werribee Wetlands
Sue Drake
During our recent visit to the Werribee Wetlands, we were surprised to see a Brolga
standing over a nest with at least one large egg visible; the bird then settled down to
12
incubate. I emailed David Torr of BirdLife Werribee, asking if this was a normal event,
so far south. He replied: ‘We have a pair of “almost resident” Brolgas here and they nest
most years — but the young often get taken by foxes.’
The Brolga settled on its nest. © Bruce Longmore
And another lovely shot of Red-necked Avocets from Bruce and Sue’s visit to Werribee Wetlands.
© Bruce Longmore
Last posting on the Little Curlews
Clive Minton and Inka Veltheim, AWSG, 13 July 2015
I am afraid this is a ‘bad news’ email. All four satellite transmitters on Little Curlew that
were sending out regular signals until mid-May have now stopped transmitting. From
elation just a few weeks ago when five birds carrying transmitters set off from north-west
Australia, we are now extremely disappointed that everything seems to have come to a
complete halt.
One of the reasons for the delay in this circular is that we were hoping (against hope)
that some of the transmitters might start up again if part of the problem has been overcast
weather conditions that the birds have encountered in China, which would thereby cause
a lack of solar recharging of the batteries. But it is now six weeks since the last transmission and I fear that we really have to accept that we are not going to get any more
information from these transmitters.
At the moment we really have no clue to the cause/s of this sudden demise of the
units. Are there possibly technical difficulties in this batch of units, which have resulted
in unusually short transmission lives (meant to be 1+ years)? Evidence from other users
of the same MTI product (Reece Pedler and in Alaska) has not revealed any significant
problems with performance or longevity of these satellite transmitters so far. It seems
hard to believe that all birds have, almost simultaneously, been predated by animals or
captured by hunters. Perhaps the most likely cause is that the birds have shed their
transmitter harnesses. It may be significant that the timing of most losses coincided with
periods of migration when significant distances were being traversed. It is just possible
that the loss of accumulated fat used up in these journeys allowed the harnesses to
become too loose.
We are continuing to seek comparable satellite transmitter information from other
researchers around the world, particularly those who have used satellite transmitters on
shorebirds, to help us work out what may have gone wrong.
Whilst the disappointment of the failures is at the forefront of our minds, we should
recognise that we have still learned a great deal about Little Curlew behaviour from these
satellite transmitters over the last three months. This includes new knowledge about:
local, non-breeding movements in Australia; migratory departure locations in Australia;
and northward migration routes and stop-over sites.
All five birds that had transmitters put on at Anna Plains and 80 Mile Beach in midFebruary continued to roam around the grasslands of Anna Plains Station until the end of
March. With them was the sole remaining Little Curlew with a satellite transmitter from
the Roebuck Plains, Broome, November 2013 deployment. This bird moved back and
forth between Roebuck Plains and Anna Plains before setting off again on this year’s
northward migration (from Roebuck Plains). One of the Anna Plains–80 Mile Beach
birds from the 2015 deployment also moved to Roebuck Plains before northward
migration. Another one spent several weeks in the Fitzroy River estuary near Derby
before its transmitter stopped around the time the first two Little Curlew left on
migration from Anna Plains–80 Mile Beach. We therefore have strong evidence that
Little Curlew depart on their northward migration from various locations in north-west
Australia.
13
All birds confirmed the migration strategy, which first became apparent during the
2014 northward migration. Most birds stopped in the Indonesian region (1000–2000 km)
for 1–2 weeks. Most then moved on to some part of the Philippines for another short stop
over. The Chinese coast was the next destination, and it was at this stage that most of the
transmissions from the Little Curlew units ceased — we had fixes from two birds, which
had reached the coast. This project has shown that Little Curlew seem to be different
from most other wader species leaving north-west Australia on northward migration.
Most other species put on large quantities of fat (up to 100% addition to their fat-free
weight) and many complete their journey (5000–6000 km) to the Chinese coast
(including the Yellow Sea) in a non-stop flight. Little Curlew, on the other hand, seem to
put on much less weight (40–60%) before departure and make several stops on the
journey before reaching China. Late departure and several stop overs before reaching
China also correlate well with (maybe are a consequence of?) Little Curlew not
completing their wing-moult until early March, whereas most other waders complete it in
January or early in February. Energy resources are not normally devoted to weight
accumulation until the main moult of the primary feathers is complete.
At this stage, it appears likely that there will be no further emails this year concerning
the movements of Little Curlew carrying satellite transmitters.
We will be carrying out a thorough investigation to try to be sure that the performance
of satellite transmitters we deploy in the future is much improved. This will include
exploring different harness design options.
Meanwhile, thanks for everyone’s interest and support.
14
BirdLife Tasmania Directory 2015–16
GPO Box 68, Hobart 7001
www.birdlife.org.au/tasmania
Chair
Dr Eric Woehler <[email protected]> 62231980
and 0438204565
Secretary
Sue Drake <[email protected]> 62391468 and
0402741399
Treasurer
Allan Patman <[email protected]> 62663673 and 0448429204
Excursions
M. Duffy 62750832 <[email protected]>, J. Holmes,
M. McKerracher
Shorebird Count Coordinators
South-east
S. Drake <[email protected]> 62391468 and 0402741399
Dr E. Woehler <[email protected]> 62231980
and 0438204565
East
L. Znidersic <[email protected]> 0409123322
North and NE R. Cooper <[email protected]> 63301255
North-west
H. Britton <[email protected]> 64252785
Database
c/- The Secretary, GPO Box 68, Hobart 7001
<[email protected]>
Systematic list Position of compiler is currently vacant.
Editor
Wynne Webber <[email protected]> 62674963 (Yellow Throat
and Tasmanian Bird Report)
Library
c/- The Secretary, GPO Box 68, Hobart 7001
Equipment
c/- The Secretary, GPO Box 68, Hobart 7001
Yellow Throat is produced every alternate month beginning in January. Contributions,
including articles, sightings, bird-watching sites, letters and news, are welcome, and will
be published subject to space and interest or relevance to BirdLife Tasmania members, at
the Editor’s discretion. Views expressed in Yellow Throat are not necessarily those of
BirdLife Tasmania, or of the Editor, unless explicitly stated.
All images that appear in Yellow Throat are, unless acknowledged otherwise,
© Dr Eric J Woehler, and remain his property.
Maps drawn from the BirdLife Tasmania database remain © BirdLife Tasmania.
Please make use of our material, but we ask that you acknowledge BirdLife Tasmania
as the source.
We thank the office of Mr Andrew Wilkie, MHR, for assisting in the
production of Yellow Throat XX.
BirdLife Tasmania is a regional branch of BirdLife Australia.
TASMANIA
15
Birdlife Tasmania
Excursions — South 2015
Saturday, 10 October 2015: Tasmanian Native Garden, Buckland.
Meet opposite the Sorell Police Station at
8.30 a.m. to carpool.
Ring Maureen on 62750832 or 0409253834.
Sunday, 25 October, 2015: Orielton Lagoon, Sorell.
Meet next to the cemetery at the lagoon end of
Forcett Street at 8.30 a.m. Bring a telescope if
you have one.
Ring Maureen on 62750832 or 0409253834.
Saturday, 07 November 2015: Lake Dulverton, Oatlands.
Meet at Granton Reserve carpark at 8.30 a.m.
to carpool.
Ring Maureen on 62750832 or 0409253834.
Sunday, 29 November 2015: Peter Murrell Reserve, Kingston.
Meet at Huntingfield Avenue entrance at
8.30 a.m.
Ring Denis on 62231221.
Sunday, 06 December 2015: Marion Bay.
Meet opposite the Sorell Police Station at
8.30 a.m. to carpool.
Ring Maureen on 62750832 or 0409253834.
16