I make an apology for not getting the facts about the fire. I made
the wrong conclusion from the ABC Radio news item.
Below are the details of the item and the facts about the fire. Note
that the text of the ABC news item below is NOT what I heard on the
ABC 720 radio bulletin (it was either the 07:45 or the 09:00 bulletin
from memory). There was explicit mention of 20 birds, and I did not
hear explicit mention of Cape Arid NP. I had not heard until last
night that there had been fires in the park. I must have heard the
word "cell" and made a completely wrong conclusion. There was no
explicit mention of captive birds. I made that conclusion and I was
wrong. The item was only on one news bulletin, but this did not
surprise me at the time as the ABC often have country items on the
early news, and they are dropped later for the Perth news when the
country goes to their own programs. However, none of this makes my
statement correct, or excuses me in any way from checking further on
the details. I should have checked further.
The captive birds are fine by the way. They are located near
Albany. I should have known this. I had heard this but it didn't
occur to me. My mistake. The fire makes these birds even more
important to the future of the recovery of this species. The two
major threats that have been identified are fires and feral
cats. This could have been the fire that was the last
straw. Thankfully to DEC the loss was limited to one area.
Here is a copy of the ABC news item:
-------------------------------------------------------
Western Australian fires threaten endangered parrot
Monday, 31/01/2011
Bushfires that burnt more than 6000 hectares of bush in the Cape
Arid National Park in Western Australia have destroyed part of the
habitat of the critically endangered Western Ground Parrot.
Cape Arid was home to around 120 of the parrots, the largest largest
remaining population in the world.
Manager of the Department of Environment and Conservation's
Esperance office, Klaus Tiedermann, says an unknown number of birds
were killed when one of the six cells containing the parrots was destroyed.
"We had to pull the firefighters out because of their safety, so we
have lost one of the cells."
The Department of Environment and Conservation estimates there are
fewer than 200 of the birds left in the wild.
--------------------------------------------------------
The facts:
A bushfire started by lightning has burnt part of the habitat
occupied by Western Ground Parrots in Cape Arid National Park. This
is an unfortunate occurrence, which is of serious concern to the
recovery team and to local managers.
DEC staff did their best to stop the fire as quickly as possible,
using heavy earthmoving equipment and heavy-duty fire trucks, but
wind and temperature conditions resulted in several major
'hop-overs', making it very difficult to contain the fire. Safety of
personnel was a significant issue under these conditions. However,
the fire is now out, and some parts of the occupied Western Ground
Parrot habitat at this site remain unburnt. Given the conditions,
the result could have been far worse, as the fire could have moved
into other occupied patches of habitat.
While it is possible that some birds succumbed to the fire, it is
not known whether any were killed, and it is more likely that they
moved ahead of the fire, as they are known to be strong flyers, and
known to be capable of moving ahead of fires. In particular, young
birds, at least, are known to disperse at this time of year.
There is no establishment or enclosure in this area. As the news
item said, it was habitat that was burnt.
If you are unclear about any of the events, or their actual or
possible consequences, or any aspect of Ground Parrot biology or
management, please ask. You could ask me Allan Burbidge, or a
representative of the Friends of the Western Ground Parrot (Brenda
Newbey or Anne Bondin) or one of the BA representatives on the
recovery team (Brenda Newbey or John Blyth). These people would be
more than happy to talk to you about any of these matters.
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
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