I thought list members might be interested in the following text, copied
from a message I recieved this week from the office of the SA Premier,
John Olsen:
> Dear Ms Green
>
> Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding the control of Silver Gull
> populations at Banded Stilt breeding sites in Lake Eyre National Park.
>
> Following the severe predation by Silver Gulls on the first breeding
> attempts by Banded Stilts at Lake Eyre in April, National Parks and Wildlife
> SA (NPWSA) devised a strategy to protect any further breeding attempts by
> the Stilts. This was in recognition that the predation loses were so severe
> as to pose a threat to the continuation of the Banded Stilt population.
>
> In early July, as a result of ongoing monitoring of Lake Eyre, a large
> colony of 20,000 Banded Stilts was found breeding on Ibis Island in Lake
> Eyre North. Several thousand Silver Gulls, breeding next to them, were
> observed harassing the Stilts and taking their eggs. A NPWSA team was
> immediately dispatched to Ibis Island and Gulls were removed. To date, the
> news is excellent with up to 40,000 chicks fledging from about 20,000 pairs
> of birds.
>
> Given the Banded Stilt's dependence on the irregular filling of remote
> saline lakes for breeding, I appreciate the importance of this and
> subsequent breeding events for what may be a dwindling population. Ongoing
> monitoring is occurring. NPWSA will act to protect further stilt breeding
> from significant Silver Gull predation. The strategy has been, and will
> continue to be, to target those Gulls causing the direct threat to the Stilt
> colony.
>
> Using the experience gained from this breeding event, NPWSA is drafting a
> management plan for the future conservation management of Banded Stilt
> breeding events in South Australia.
>
> Thank you for your correspondence on this matter.
>
> Yours sincerely
>
> JOHN OLSEN
> Premier
>
> 6/9/2000
>
--
Atriplex Services
Working With Nature
Native Australian Plant Nursery
Seed Collectors and Suppliers
Landscaping and Revegetation Consultants
http://www.riverland.net.au/~atriplex
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
