Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater survey update - July 2010 Chris Tzaros (Swift Parrot Recovery Coordinator) & Dean Ingwersen (Regent Honeyeater Recovery Coordinator)
Firstly, a big thank you to all who took part in the May survey this year. Participation rates were the highest that they have been in recent years, so thank you for your ongoing support for these very important threatened species monitoring programs. Through Birds Australia’s Woodland Birds for Biodiversity Project, we are continuing to use volunteer survey data in many different ways such as revision to recovery plans, advice to Governments on planning applications and the development of a sophisticated model that identifies priority landscapes for these and other threatened woodland birds across south-eastern Australia. As the winter Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater survey for 2010 approaches – to be held on the 78th August - the following is a summary of the May survey results. The map below indicates the location of all Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater sightings from the May survey period. With welcome winter rainfall right across Victoria and parts of New South Wales, eucalypts have been flowering better than they have for years, especially in box-ironbark areas of north-central and northeast Victoria. As would be expected though, some tree species such as Grey Box and Red and Mugga Ironbark are finishing their flowering cycle whilst others including White Box and Yellow Box are just beginning. How birds will respond to the distribution and availability of flowering resources will remain to be seen, and this is the reason why we conduct two surveys per year – to track any movements over the course of an autumn-winter season.
Swift Parrots After last years’ poorest May survey result on record (95 birds at 14 sites), this year it was very exciting to receive one of the largest May survey tallies recorded for some time. A conservative count of 1,120 Swift Parrots were recorded at 103 sites! This survey result variation really demonstrates the mobility of this species and the need for the population to have access to a range of different habitat types in different regions. People may recall that in 2009, rainfall across south-eastern Australia was below average and eucalypts over much of the region (especially inland of the Divide) failed to flower or flowered very poorly. Coastal forests, especially on the NSW south coast, were an exception and Spotted Gum flowered prolifically last year attracting over half the known Swift Parrot population during June-July. This year, the pattern of Swift Parrot occurrence couldn’t be more different! Of the 103 sites where birds were detected during the May survey, only 5 were in NSW - around western Sydney, Frogmore and Kariong, The remaining 98 were in Victoria, primarily in the districts of Heathcote, Castlemaine, Maryborough, St Arnaud and Stawell in the Box-Ironbark region of north-central Victoria, around Killawarra and Chiltern in north-east Victoria, and in the greater western Melbourne region (e.g. Sunbury, You Yangs, and west of Geelong). The 150+ birds in the Geelong area represented the largest number of Swift Parrots seen in this region for many years. Yellow Gum flowering was the stimulus for this occurrence, as it was on the outskirts of suburban Sunbury (north-west of Melbourne) – a location that has attracted in the order of 50-60 Swift Parrots for the past few years now. In northcentral Victoria, the Muckleford-Newstead area again supported a number of Swift Parrots at sites which have become almost annual refuges, even when prevailing conditions in the broader region seem inappropriate. Tunstalls Nature Reserve near Bealiba supported the largest concentration of
swifties recorded during the May survey with 220+ birds recorded at a few sites within the reserve. Roosting behaviour was also observed at this site. This is arguably the most important mainland site for Swift Parrots in terms of consistency of usage and numbers of birds recorded. The Heathcote area also supported a concentration of birds - around 150 swifties occurred in forest areas south and west of the township where flowering of several tree species was intense. Of the 124 records of swifties submitted during the May survey, 80 included observations of birds foraging. The top five food resources recorded were: Yellow Gum nectar (32 records), Grey Box lerp (26), Red Ironbark nectar (9), Yellow Gum lerp (7) and Grey Box nectar (6). Yellow Gum is emerging as a really important tree species to Swift Parrots and other nectarivorous birds. Occurring on lower slopes and flats, it possibly has better drought-resilience than some other species that typically occur on elevated and less fertile sites. This year, Yellow Gum also seems to have had commenced flowering earlier than usual and still appears to be flowering well in many parts of its range in central southern and north-central Victoria. However, at the time of writing, White Box is coming into heavy flower in north-east Victoria and to a lesser extent on the NSW south west slopes, so it will be very interesting to see where the bulk of the population will be recorded during this next survey.
This adult male Swift Parrot was among 150-odd birds recorded in the Spring Plains Nature Reserve near Heathcote in central Victoria. Regular occurrence of swifties at this site assisted in the decision to proclaim this reserve (from state forest) about 10 years ago. Photo: Chris Tzaros
Swift Parrots are one of the most insectivorous species of parrot in the World. Lerp continues to form an important dietary item for the species over the autumn-winter months. Photo: Chris Tzaros
Regent Honeyeaters The May surveys for Regent Honeyeaters this year are a solid reflection of the Swift Parrot results, in so much as the sites of occurrence are so vastly different in many respects to last year. If volunteers cast their minds back to 2009 the early run of that year, from April onwards, consisted of a relative swathe of records in the lower Hunter Valley and the Crown Station Rd region of the Capertee Valley, and not much else. Unfortunately, despite some great summer rains, the conditions in the Capertee Valley this year are a polar opposite to 12 months ago and there is barely a flower to be seen anywhere. Similarly, areas of the lower Hunter which held up to 40 birds at one point last year have not followed up this year (though this is perhaps not surprising given what we know about the flowering of the species’ key foraging trees). So where are the birds this year I hear you scream? The largest flock of the survey period, and for the whole year to date, has been in the upper Hunter Valley around Milbrodale. Once again Regent Honeyeater finder-extraordinaire Mick Roderick
tracked down some birds here, with the maximum count on the survey weekend being 19 individuals. Interestingly these birds were foraging on lerp only, despite hanging out in a stand of heavily flowering Narrow-leaved Ironbark. Some observers will remember that further south-west from here is the location of one of the greatest modern sightings of the species – 150 birds were found in the Howes Valley back in the mid 1990’s. Fingers crossed that we reach those numbers again one day soon! Several individuals were also located at Galgabba Point on the survey weekend this year, again highlighting the growing importance of the greater Hunter Valley region as an area of refuge for the species. Around the same time as the Milbrodale sightings, two Regents were seen near Bringalily State Forest in southern Queensland. This site is near Inglewood, and is just about as far west as the species has ever been recorded. The area contains a mix of eucalypt species, including Ironbark, and the two birds were only seen for a few minutes above a dam on private property. They were not seen subsequently. From one end of the range to the other, the box-ironbark forests of Victoria have flowered as well as they have for many years and as a result there have been a number of regular sightings in the ChilternMt Pilot NP. In the week following the survey weekend a total of 8 wild birds were observed, and most of these have been seen in the months since. We can make that statement with confidence as this park has been the site of the largest ever release of captive-bred Regent Honeyeaters, with 44 birds released there in early May. As a result there have been staff and volunteers in the park daily since, and the area has searched with a fine-toothed comb. In most cases if we haven’t seen a Regent Honeyeater there hasn’t been one to see! Observers are reminded that the captive-bred birds have all been fitted with a unique combination of colour bands, and pink is the master colour used to designate the bird was bred in captivity. If anyone sees a bird wearing a pink band they are asked to call the toll free sightings hotline immediately – we are still to find one of our 2008 released birds outside of that tracking period, and the 2010 cohort will at some stage leave the park for greener pastures (pink was the master colour in both instances, just on opposite legs). A huge thanks to all the volunteers who have helped us with the radio tracking as part of this project to date – we couldn’t run the project without you! We now all have our fingers crossed that they get some nice spring weather and get busy producing the next generation of Regent Honeyeaters.
A captive-bred Regent Honeyeater ready for release in Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP, May 2010. Forty-four birds were released in a further trial of the technique. Photo: Dean Ingwersen
One of the two Regent Honeyeaters found within the township of Puckapunyal, central Victoria just after the survey period. This contributes further to the small, but growing, number of records from central Victoria in recent years. Photo: Chris Tzaros.
August surveys Searching for a worthwhile excuse to venture out into the eucy forests and woodlands for a weekend? Well search no further! Why not volunteer as a Swift Parrot-Regent Honeyeater surveyor? The winter 2010 survey will be held on 7-8 August. The surveys are co-ordinated under Birds Australia’s Woodland Birds for Biodiversity (WBfB) project. If you wish to participate or report sightings of either species, please contact Dean Ingwersen (Regent Honeyeaters)
[email protected] or Chris Tzaros (Swift Parrots)
[email protected], or call them on 03 9347 0757. The WBfB project is funded by the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country program and further information on it can be found here: www.birdsaustralia.com.au/wbc. Best wishes to all observers and good luck with the survey.
