I received a forwarded copy of the following email. It may be of
interest to conservation minded birders in the region. Details are
available at www.glossyblack.org.au
Regards, Laurie.
Dear Glossy Black-Cockatoo enthusiasts
<Tuesday> was National Threatened Species Day which is held on 7
September each year to commemorate the death of the last Tasmanian
tiger in Hobart Zoo in 1936. Threatened species day is the precursor
to a range of activities for Threatened Species Week and here in
Queensland there are a number of activities that have been planned for
the coming days. This year also has the theme"Time for Action"
associated with the events of the week and it is therefore an
opportune time to let everybody know about the plans for holding a
second Glossy Black-Cockatoo Birding Day where you can be active in a
regional conservation initiative. As many of you will be aware the
Glossy Black-Cockatoo is listed as 'vulnerable' under both Queensland
and NSW legislation, but we still have very little information about
the actual status and trends within these regional populations.
Last year many of you were involved in the inaugural Glossy Black-
Cockatoo Birding Day that was held on the Gold Coast in May. This
event was very successful and provided the first assessment of the
status of the cockatoo population on the Gold Coast. To summarise the
sterling efforts made by our volunteers we recorded 51 individuals
from surveys of 62 km² of habitat. The results of the survey were
eagerly awaited, and gained much support from members of the Glossy
Black Conservancy (www.glossyblack.org.au). For those interested in
the details I have attached a PDF report that was compiled summarising
the results from this inaugural survey.
This year the event has been moved to October (31 October to be
precise) hence the extended silence in case you were wondering whether
there would be another survey. There have however, been some
significant changes to the surveys planned for the birding day. The
most notable of these is that the coverage of the survey has been
extended beyond the boundaries of the Gold Coast to include
neighbouring council regions within SEQ and northern NSW. The desire
to extend the survey to include these additional areas is a testament
to the benefits information gathered on the species from such an
intensive birding day can provide.
One of the other changes stemming from the extended coverage in SEQ
and northern NSW is that these LGAs will each have their own regional
coordinator who will oversee the registration of volunteers interested
in participating in this years event. I will still be coordinating
the event for the Gold Coast and would be very happy to hear from any
of you should you wish to assist again in October. The survey will be
conducted following similar procedures to the 2009 survey (e.g.
surveying a defined 1km² site periodically throughout the day from
dawn to dusk) and further information is currently available, and will
be added to the Glossy Black Conservancy website
(www.glossyblack.org.au) in the coming weeks. Once again workshops
will be held to assist volunteers in identification of the species as
well as capturing data in the field. A final development is that the
scope of the surveys have received considerable support from a number
of conservation minded partners. So much so that we are able to offer
a range of fantastic prizes to those participating and completing
reporting sheets for the full day. These prizes include mid-week
accommodation getaway packages to Mt Barney Lodge in the Scenic Rim,
passes to both Australia Zoo and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary,
memberships to regional bird groups (e.g. BrisBOCA), as well as a copy
of the book "Cockatoo" by Matt Cameron.
The actual birding day is still some time away (31 October) so this
gives you plenty of opportunity to sign on yourself, but also to
spread the word amongst your friends and colleagues to see if we can
increase the number of eyes on the ground come October. I've also
attached a copy of a flyer promoting the event if you feel the urge to
post this on your local community noticeboard. If you are interested
in participating, or want to know more about the birding day please
drop me a line, I'd be happy to hear from you.
Yours in conservation
Guy
Dr J.G. Castley
Senior Research Fellow
International Centre for Ecotourism Research
The Griffith School of Environment
Gold Coast campus
Griffith University, QLD, 4222
Australia==============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
=============================
| 