Dear birding-aus community
I am hoping that anyone with reports of unusual sightings of birds likely to
have fled the bushfire areas in the area of the "Eden Valley" or Rockleigh
fires in South Aust would contact me. The Eden Valley fire covered an enormous
area of unfragmented grazing properties which connect a suite of remnant grassy
woodlands (including the best hollow rich, critically endangered Peppermint box
overstory in the Eastern Hills) and natural temperate grassland habitats
(including Class A & B patches of lomandra effusa nt grasslands) left in the
Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges. The fire burnt through areas such as the gorges of
the Marne River and Saunders Creeks and the redgum lined main ephemeral creek
systems which are lifelines through grazing lands and remnant ecotones between
the dry Murray Plains including Sedan wetlands and the higher rainfall areas
(including important reserves and reservoirs) in the MLR. The Marne River is a
vital lifeline which traverses the area from these higher rainfall areas to the
Murray River. Bird survey efforts in the Eden Valley Fire area on the Barossa
side of the Range have been lacking but, as a property owner in the hard hit
Jutland Valley for the past 20 years I have seen around half the threatened
woodland birds of Adelaide and the MLR here and a crossover of wetland species.
The width of Jutland Road, the very wide dirt road running through the middle
of the "Eden Valley fire" between Keyneton and east of Eden Valley and
Springton was no barrier to the fire. In my area friends and neighbours have
lost their homes and my property too has been devastated.
I would love to hear from Barbara & Peter Bransemer at Rockleigh whose post
fire reports since the fires are most valuable to the research I am currently
involved in.
Many thanks,
Alexandra Randell
(Flinders University Biodiversity Conservation & Animal Behaviour student)
0458 741 358
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