Con
As the author of the Greening Australia study of birds in reveg sites I can
give you a bit more detail about Hooded Robins in the study.
Yes, the more common birds found in reveg sites were the more common species
in the landscape, both woodland species and open-country species - hardly
surprising. However the common woodland species weren't necessarily common
at the site where the reveg was established before it was planted - at least
we now know that those woodland species can move out of their remnant
habitat and into newly established habitat.
Given how sparse the rarer woodland birds like Hooded Robin are in the
landscape (and I think through your searchings you can testify to this) it
is hardly surprising that we didn't find many HR in reveg sites. Even if
totally suitable habitat is provided everywhere it's going to take a
considerable amount of successful breeding and dispersal for the HR to
repopulate to become a common species, and reveg efforts are still a very
small part of the landscape. The encouraging thing is that some HRs (and
other declining woodland species) were found in reveg.
They were found in a few of the the older reveg sites, ie ten years old.
Possibly it takes this long for the site to develop suitable resources for
the Robins, such as tall enough trees and shrubs, a few dead branches/twigs,
fallen branches, a suitable ground layer of litter, native plants etc. HRs
need open space, and as you observed, short grass and bare ground for
foraging, so reveg plantings need to incorporate some open space within the
site to cater for these needs.
The other answer to your question 'How can these plantings be improved to
target the rarer
woodland species that are in trouble?' is - create many many more of them.
cheers
Nicki Taws
02 6251 0303
0408 210 736
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