Hi Everyone
I thought that I would send out some information to you all about the
Brown Treecreeper reintroductions.
There are seven Brown Treecreeper family groups throughout Mulligans
Flat and Goorooyarroo Nature Reserves. Five of these are in Mulligans
and two are in Goorooyarroo. In total we brought in about 40 birds from
populations in Wagga Wagga. These birds were brought in in intact family
groups with dependent fledglings to help promote social cohesion and
site fidelity.
The releases themselves generally went really well. We tended to release
the birds all at once so that they knew that their family members were
there. Using this method the birds would call to each other almost
instantly and easily joined up as a group.
After their releases, the groups have been fairly stationary, with the
exception of one group that moved away from noisy miners. Most groups
have remained quite close to where they were released, generally moving
together if they have moved. Interestingly there has been a few examples
of the breeding females leaving the group for short periods of time to
explore the habitat around them, and then returning either the same day
or a few days later. There are also a few helper males who have gone on
exploratory forays. For example, USB Port left his family to explore a
patch just outside the Mulligans predator proof fence, stayed for a few
days, then returned home, then went back, then returned home, and as of
this morning he had gone back out on his own. Another male from the same
group, Rumplestiltskin, has done a similar thing, but he seems to have
moved around a bit more than USB Port.
The last two groups that we released were released into Goorooyarroo.
Over the last few days in particular we have noticed that they have
expanded their territories a bit and have actually made contact with
each other. I noticed the female from one group (Kaja Goo Goo) in the
same tree as a member from the other group, and they were calling to
each other as if saying "who are you, and what are you doing in my
tree?" So members from both of those groups definitely know about each
other and it will be interesting to see how they interact.
The survival from the released birds has been really good so far. We
have lost a couple of birds, but that can be expected. For example Legs
(a breeding female) went missing for a few days and then her transmitter
turned up in a pellet from a bird of prey. But overall the survival rate
is really good and the groups have also been staying together really well.
All of this monitoring is possible using radio-transmitters attached to
some of the birds (mostly breeding females and male helpers), which help
us track the birds each day and keep an eye on where they are moving. We
are also observing the birds to get behavioural data so that we can see
how things change over time, and what type of micro-habitat they use
most. All of the birds are also colour-banded, and given names according
to their colour bands.
So there are now Brown Treecreepers in Mulligans Flat and Goorooyarroo.
If you would like further information, please do not hesitate to ask me.
However, please be aware that I am in the field most days and therefore
only check my email about once a week. Also, if you would like to help
out in monitoring these birds please also contact me.
There have been quite a few people helping to make this project happen.
In particular Dr. Erik Doerr and Dr. Veronica Doerr from CSIRO, Peter
Mills and Grant Woodbridge from Parks Conservation and Lands, Jenny
Stott, and the many volunteers both in Wagga Wagga and in Canberra. So a
big thanks to all of them.
Kind Regards
Victoria
--
Victoria Bennett
PhD Scholar
Fenner School of Environment and Society
W.K. Hancock Building 43 West
Australian National University
Acton 0200
Mob: 0401 883 567
Ph : +61 2 6125 6775
Fax: +61 2 6125 0757
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