Chris Tzaros & Dean Ingwersen

Woodland Bird Conservation Project

Swift Parrots and Regent Honeyeaters

Icons of our woodlands

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Woodland Bird Conservation

Project background• Swift Parrot/Regent Honeyeater funding crisis• Current phase based on Commonwealth

Recovery Plan implementation for swifties and regents

• Initiate other projects targeting declining and threatened species- research- monitoring- on-ground restoration- knowledge brokering

• Plan is to work with project partners in Vic. (Trust for Nature), Tas. (Tas Land Conservancy) and NSW (Nature Conservation Trust)

• Emphasis on private woodland conservation such as strategic covenanting

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Need for this project• One third of Australia’s woodlands are

cleared• 80% of temperate woodlands have been

lost• Over a third of Australia’s land birds are

woodland dependant• One in five of these is listed as

‘threatened’ (over 40 species)• Birds of south-east temperate woodlands

have suffered most

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Introducing the Swift Parrot

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Distribution

Non-Breeding

Breeding

• Widespread across the temperate south-eastern woodlands, including Tasmania where it breeds

• Migrates across Bass Strait for autumn-winter (longest migrating parrot in the World)

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MovementsOctober – December:• Breeding• Eastern Tasmania in Blue Gum forest

January:• First year birds are mobile• Disperse through central and northern Tasmania

Non-Breeding

Breeding

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MovementsFebruary - April:• Arrive on mainland

May - August:• Nomadic throughout central, southern and north-east Vic, NSW south, central and north coast, south-

west and central slopes, occasionally south-east Qld

Non-Breeding

Breeding

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MovementsSeptember:• Southward migration

Non-Breeding

Breeding

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• Population: 1987 - 1320 breeding pairs1995 - 940 breeding pairs

• “Swift Parrot population estimated to be no more than 1000 breeding pairs” - Swift Parrot Recovery Plan 2001

• Conservation status: Endangered Nationally (listed under Commonwealth EPBC Act 1999)

Abundance

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Introducing the Regent Honeyeater

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Distribution

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•Highly mobile but appear to have regular patterns of movement

•Late summer-winter - disperse widely in small groups

•Late winter-spring - concentrate back into core breeding areas:

• Capertee Valley, central NSW

• Bundarra - Barraba, northern NSW

• Chiltern, Vic

Movements

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Changes in abundance• Contraction in range (from SA, western

Victoria and parts of Qld)

• Reporting rates have declined and flocks observed are smaller - until early this century the Regent Honeyeater congregated from time to time in large flocks, described enthusiastically as containing “immense numbers” (1866) and “thousands” (1909).

• Very difficult to estimate current numbers:

• Reporting rate is very low for a species that inhabits a largely agricultural landscape

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• Loss of habitat and reduction in quality (particularly fragmentation)

• Clearing for agriculture

• Forestry and cutting for firewood

• Continuing decline of trees in agricultural landscape

• Lack of regeneration

Threats

• Competition with other large nectar feeders for patchy and unpredictable resources

• Climate change and drought

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‘Flagships’ for woodland conservation

• Actions to reverse the declines of these two high profile species will have flow-on benefits to a host of other threatened and declining woodland birds

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Jacky Winter• Insectivorous

• Ground and trunk foraging

• Favours slightly open areas

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Brown Treecreeper• Insectivorous

• Ground and trunk foraging

• Hollow breeder

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Diamond Firetail• Granivorous

• Ground foraging

• Dependant on healthy grassy woodlands

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Speckled Warbler• Insectivorous

• Ground foraging

• Often in mixed-species foraging flocks

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Habitat in Victoria• Box-ironbark forests and woodlands• Lowland vegetation communities on

fertile sites are preferred• These sites have important drought

refuge characteristics• Trees at such sites flower more frequently

and abundantly

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Forage trees in VictoriaGrey Box Eucalyptus

microcarpaEarly autumn flowering

White Box Eucalyptus albens

Mid-late winter flowering

Yellow Gum Eucalyptus leucoxylon

Mid-late winter flowering, abundant nectar, good lerp loads

Red Ironbark Eucalyptus tricarpa

Mid-late winter flowering, abundant nectar but severely drought affected

Red Box Eucalyptus polyanthemos

Occasional lerp infestation

Yellow Box Eucalyptus melliodora

Late spring-early summer flowering, occasional lerp loads, good for insects

River Red Gum

Eucalyptus camaldulensis

Reliably harbours insects and regular lerp loads

Golden Wattle

Acacia pycnantha

Racemes in winter important for swifties

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Identifying the Swift Parrot

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Identifying the Swift Parrot

• Plumage differences include:

- Red under wings and tail

Purple-crowned Lorikeet

LittleLorikeet

Rainbow Lorikeet

Musk Lorikeet

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

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Identifying the Swift Parrot•Similar species and calls

Little

Lorikeet

Musk Lorikeet

Purple-crowned Lorikeet

Swift Parrot

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Identifying the Regent Honeyeater

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Identifying the Regent Honeyeater

Other ‘yellow-winged’ honeyeaters:

•New Holland HE smaller and have white on face

• Painted HE white underparts and pink bill

•White-fronted and Crescent very rare

• Note that field guides incorrectly illustrate a pink or red face

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Identifying the Regent Honeyeater

•Similar species and calls

Regent Honeyeater

New Holland Honeyeater Painted Honeyeater

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• The winter surveys were set up to track these highly mobile creatures

• They have been successful in telling us a great deal

• There is still much to be learned by continuing them

Swiftie and Regent surveys

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• A good way to cover lots of ground is to drive through suitable habitat listening for bird activity

• Upon finding a good patch, stop and survey/wander the area looking and listening for the target species

Swiftie and Regent surveys

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• 20 min x 2 Ha transect• 500m area search - these are often the

best methods for locating threatened and cryptic species, like Swifties and Regents

Woodland Bird Surveys

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Traditional survey dates:• 3rd week of May (this year, 16-17

May)• 1st week of August (this year, 1-2

August)

Swiftie and Regent surveys

However, we also seek opportunistic information outside these periods necessary

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The survey sheet

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The survey sheet

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Ray ThomasPhone: (03) 57 611 515Fax: (03) 57 611 628email: raydavidthomas@hotmail.comWeb: regent.org.au

8-9 August

22-23 August

5-6 September

19-20 September

Other activities to assist Swifties and

Regents •Lurg revegetation project

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Contact:

Chris Tzaros & Dean IngwersenWoodland Bird Conservation

Projectc.tzaros@birdsaustralia.com.aud.ingwersen@birdsaustralia.com

.au(03) 9347 0757

For more information, visit:www.birdsaustralia.com.au/wbc