canberrabirds

Draft Little Eagle Action Plan out for public comment

To: <>
Subject: Draft Little Eagle Action Plan out for public comment
From: "Philip Veerman" <>
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:14:52 +1100

This is good. Thanks for that. Some quick comments:

 

I am curious at the quote "with males having longer wings in proportion to their bodies, but being nearly half the weight of females." That seems very odd to me. Of course there is a lot of variation in weight. I wouldn't think that a male's weight would normally be describable as "but being nearly half" (i.e. less than half) of an average female's weight. In contrast I would have thought that males would be typically be at least somewhat or slightly more than half the weight of females. I think HANZAB supports me (although it is hard to follow what their figures actually show). Jenny's 2008 CBN article gives data that certainly supports my wording.

 

As for: "The birds build a stick nest lined with leaves and may use different nests in successive years, including those of other birds such as crows. " In the ACT that should be ravens (not crows).

As for: "There is some evidence of prey partitioning between little eagles and the sympatric, larger wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax, with the latter tending to take larger prey and to eat more carrion...... However, rabbits are the most common dietary item for both eagle species near Canberra ........ indicating potential for competition for prey. " Yes but as rabbits are so abundant, impact of that competition is minimal.

The nomination is based on a described decline in status of the species. It provides some local survey data which is somewhat supportive. Comparing the old and new Australian Atlas is not so clear cut, due to different survey methods. I just looked at the latest COG ABR which doesn't support the idea of a reduction in status. It even offers the idea of misidentification, which I think is a bit of a furphy (they are very distinctive birds) unless we can prove that there has been a consistent historical trend of changes in rates of misidentification (and for what?).

 

Then there is the issue onon consideration of GBS results. These are marginal for this species but GBS is a major part of COG's overall data set. It is at minimal curious (but I reckon better called dumb and irresponsible) that this important data set is not mentioned. The GBS data were collected in a method that should have been uninfluenced by any bias in finding or reporting information that would lead to any perception either way in changes in status of this species. You should not just pretend that a large relevant data set does not exist, because it does not support the case. It should be mentioned and commented on why the data should be ignored. Because failure to do so only highlights the deficiency. Any mention should be even to the extent of saying that GBS data does not suggest a decline in numbers of the Little Eagle. The GBS Report (Veerman 2006) Canberra Birds: A Report on the first 21 years of the Garden Bird Survey found. "It declined for the first three years, then increased for ten years to a high in Year 13 then declined again. It now appears to be stable." I have just checked and - needless to say (that even with plenty of empty white space on the page), Birds of Canberra Gardens V2 does not add anything new or useful to my original text that I wrote in 1999. There is a lot of GBS data on the Little Eagle but it does not hint at a decline. I am not saying that GBS data gives any basis to not be concerned. The only thing I can think of is to guess or suggest that GBS data for this species is centred around likely the same relatively few individuals being frequently observed in or over marginal habitat and so possibly it may not give as full a picture of population trends of the species as does other data. But even that is a weak excuse for ignoring it. Can anyone else suggest a better excuse? Because it is beyond me. The GBS Report also provides good evidence of the increase in Wedge-tailed Eagles. This increase is something that is mentioned and relevant to the document and thus the GBS data should have been included, as that is very convincing dataThe omission of The GBS Report is also ironic if not ludicrous, given the following quote from the report: "Community engagement is also important for accessing community knowledge and resources (for example, wildlife expertise or capacity to undertake volunteer activities). In the case of the little eagle, knowledge of its conservation status and threats to its future well-being in the ACT are, to a significant extent, a product of community knowledge and efforts."

 

Lastly, I did not see motor vehicles listed as a threat. Sure that is hard to control. I know that I for one picked up a dead male Little Eagle on the road at Geary's Gap some years ago and presented it to ANWC (and Dick Schodde was most impressed). Also I hope I recall correctly a year or two ago one being reported on this line dead near Black Mountain (someone thought it was a Powerful Owl and I think Geoffrey Dabb identified it).

 

Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
Kambah  ACT  2902
 
02 - 62314041

 

 -----Original Message-----From: Jenny Bounds [ Sent: Wednesday, 30 November 2011 11:11 AM
To: Canberrabirds     Subject: [canberrabirds] Draft Little Eagle Action Plan out for public comment

The Little Eagle was declared a vulnerable species in the ACT in February 2008 following its nomination by COG to the ACT Flora and Fauna Committee.  The Government's Draft Action Plan is out for public comment. COG will be putting in a response which I am coordinating.  If anyone is interested in providing comments on the Draft, please email comments to me via
 
The Draft Action Plan can be found at the link below.  I can provide the document in a pdf file (129kb) on request, if anyone has problems accessing this link.  Responses to the Draft Action Plan are due by 8 February 2012.
 
cheers
Jenny
 
 
 

 

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