Anthea Fleming notes the rarity of Intermediate Egret sightings in
Heidelberg and I would like to make the following comments about the
species status in Victoria.
Intermediate Egrets, Little Egret and Great Egret are all on the list of
threatened taxa under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee (FFG) Act. There are
short Scientific Advisory Committee Recommendation Reports on each egret
which are available from me for those interested (as pdf files or in the
post). These reports highlight the rarity of each species and the reasons
for there listing.
The reason for the addition of the egrets to the FFG Act is mainly the
crash in breeding numbers at the few breed sites (mainly along the Murray
in northern Victoria) and the loss of breeding and foraging habitat
(wetlands). Intermediate Egrets used to breed in thousands at Gunbower
island (1930s - 1940s) but due to river regulation this has not occurred
again. The last big flood events (1970s and early 1990s) triggered only
minor breeding of Intermediate Egrets in Victoria (although Great Egrets
faired a little better).
Little Egrets now only breed at a single known locality near Geelong. It
is fair to say they are likely to become a non-breeding species in Victoria
in the near future as the breeding population is too small to be
sustainable.
Intermediate Egrets remain a rare and threatened species in Victoria and I
encourage all observers to carefully record all sightings of Little and
Intermediates and forward this information through to the Atlas of
Victorian Wildlife and myself.
cheers, Martin
Martin O'Brien
Threatened Species & Communities Section
Department of Sustainability and Environment
2/8 Nicholson St., East Melbourne 3002
Tel: 9637 9869
--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message 'unsubscribe
birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
