If you're interested, and have access to a radio, Victoria will be
talking to Louise Maher about this on 666 at 5.45 this afternoon. If you
can't listen then, I'd expect the interview to be available subsequently
via the 666 Drive blog, here.
http://blogs.abc.net.au/canberra/canberra_drive/
cheers
Ian
Victoria Ann Bennett wrote:
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
--
Ian Fraser,
Environment Tours; Vertego Environmental Consultancy
GPO Box 3268, Canberra, ACT 2601
ph: 61 2 6249 1560
---
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