bright blue jewels in the understorey

One of our most wonderful treasures is the suite of tiny insect-eating birds that inhabit healthy bushland, and in particular the Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens).  This little jewel spends most of its time on or near the ground.  During the breeding season, late spring through summer, the adult males have brilliant blue feathers.  The females and younger males are always brown, with a blue-ish tail.  

Male Splendid Fairy-wren in breeding colours

The males will sometimes sit higher up in a tall shrub, singing a high-pitched reel, while the rest of the family moves around in the shrubs below making softer "contact" calls to each other. 

In Ellenbrook, these birds can sometimes be seen darting through the understorey of our larger bushland remnants.   Occasionally, Fairy-wrens will come into home gardens which have native plants, to hunt for insects and spiders.  

Unfortunately, their preference for staying close to the ground makes Fairy-wrens vulnerable to cats.

Find out more about Splendid Wrens here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malurus_splendens

illegal dumping - fines increase

It's about time that the penalties for illegal dumping reflected the costs of removing the rubbish and repairing the damage done to the environment.  According to the Minister for the Environment, new fines will come into effect in early 2011.

Read more about this in the media release here -  

http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/Results.aspx?ItemID=134258

Bushwalkers and other people out in the bush can help by recording details of people seen dumping rubbish illegally.  The details (date, time, location, description, photos of the offenders) can be passed on to local shires or other authorities.

Let's do what we can to help stop this vandalism. 

Computer monitors - Ellenbrook

A car - on the Darling Scarp near Bullsbrook

Bricks and other construction materials - The Vines

Garden refuse and beer bottles - Woburn Park

Plumbing - Woburn Park

Walking with Snakes

On Sunday morning, 31st October, a group of families turned up to listen to a talk about our local reptiles, and go for a walk in bushland.  

The talk was presented by Gane Doyle from the WA Reptile Park at Henley Brook.  Gane shared some of his depth of knowledge about reptiles, including how to tell the difference between and a snake and a lizard, and some points about reptile behaviour.  Gane also told us about a little mishap he had while feeding one of the crocodiles at his Reptile Park, hence the bandaged hand.

After the talk, the kids eagerly came forward to inspect the shed skins of snakes and lizards, and looked at photographs of tiger snakes, Burton's legless lizard and a bobtail.  The adults kept Gane busy for a while with lots of questions.

Then we headed off for a bushwalk in a nearby paperbark patch, looking at flowers, trees, insects and animal tracks.  We kept a sharp eye out for snakes, but didn't see a single one. Snakes are very wary, and a large group of bushwalkers make quite a lot of noise, so I wasn't surprised that we didn't see any snakes.   You have to be really quiet to sneak up on a snake.


There were a lot of bobtail tracks in the sand.  Here's a photo of a typical lizard track, by a bluetongue lizard.  Bluetongue tracks in sand are very distinctive and usually easy to "read" - in this photo below, you can see where the little legs pushed the animal along, and the tail dragged on the ground.  The shape of the footprints show that the animal was moving from left to right.  

So, how do you tell the difference between a snake and a lizard?  Gane said the best way is to look at the tongue.  All snakes have a forked tongue.  Lizards usually have a fleshy round tongue. The only lizard that has a forked tongue is the goanna (also known as a monitor lizard, or coloquially as a "racehorse lizard") and they are not likely to be mistaken for a snake because they have obvious legs.  (Snakes don't have legs!)  Some lizards have a snake-like appearance due to having no legs, but their tongues are fleshy and round.

 

a load of rubbish (and a big smile)

It was smiles all around on Saturday 23rd October, when we had completed our first Big Spring Clean Up.  Some of our bushland and parks are now a lot tidier.

Seven volunteers at Moulton Wetland Park worked tirelessly for over an hour and a half to collect this modest haul of rubbish (photo below).  Don't be deceived - there are a lot of bottle caps and tiny pieces of paper and plastic in those bags!  And some weeds...

Here's what they collected from Woodlake Park.  There were twice as many volunteers at this site, so naturally they collected twice as much rubbish...or did they actually work twice as hard for half the time??  But they certainly found some interesting litter, including a cheque book and an electric drill.

Not to be outdone, the volunteers at The Vines decided to clean up their whole neighbourhood...I heard that Ailsa Park became a rubbish collection depot rather than a mere clean up site.  

Volunteers enjoyed a sausage sizzle afterwards, and there were various awards and prizes given out for their wonderful cleaning work.  A good effort, everyone!  I'm looking forward to the Big Spring Clean Up in 2011. (Keep your eye on this website!)

one healthy lizard

After five weeks of treatment and specialist care at Kanyana Wildlife hospital, this bobtail came home looking like a different lizard.  Instead of the lethargy of a typical bobtail 'flu victim, it was alert, active and showing a good defensive response.  The eyes were clear and bright.  And look at those glossy scales and that lovely fat tail!

                     AFTER TREATMENT

                     AFTER TREATMENT

Here's the photo from the original post "one sick bobtail" (28th September), plus a close-up of the tail in its emaciated state, so you can see the difference that treatment made to this reptile.

                     BEFORE TREATMENT

                     BEFORE TREATMENT

Kudos to Kanyana Wildlife for brilliant work in their treatment and care of native animals.  You too can help out our native animals by following Kanyana's first aid for wildlife guidelines, becoming a volunteer carer, or by donation.

counting the days to the Big Spring Clean Up

Conservation Week 2010 starts next weekend.  As part of the "you in the environment" theme, we will be holding the Big Spring Clean Up on Saturday, October 23rd!  (Only six more sleeps!)

The Big Spring Clean Up aims to tidy up some of our local parks and bushland around Ellenbrook, The Vines, Henley Brook and Aveley.  Many community groups and associations are participating, with the support of City of Swan and Clean Up Australia. We hope to raise awareness in our local community about the impact of rubbish on the environment, and work together to make our local area a cleaner and greener place to live. 

All participants are invited to attend a sausage sizzle afterwards, where we will be giving out awards and prizes to celebrate our achievements.

Want to join in?  Just turn up to one of the three sites on the day at 8am, with protective clothing, a hat, gloves and bring a water bottle.  You can click on one of the three sites below to register on-line, or to find out more.

Ailsa Park in The Vines

Moulton Wetland Park in Charlotte's Vineyard

Woodlake Park in Woodlake

The Big Spring Clean Up is only one of the many events happening for Conservation Week 2010.  If you would like more information about the talks, walks, wildlife surveys and other events, please check out the Conservation Council of WA website.

If you live in the area, you may have seen a poster like this in newspapers or on noticeboards.

"Scary swamp" not so bad

Our most recent walk explored a dark and mysterious wetland in Malvern Springs.  It was an overcast and misty-wet morning.  I pointed to our destination; a large group of paperbarks, with a thick green canopy.  Some of the walkers looked a bit nervous as we left the sandy track and headed towards the heavily-shaded wetland.

During our walk, I talked about how animals and plants survive in their environment.  The paperbark trees (Melaleuca preissiana) in this place grow tall and thin, competing for light. 

I wanted the walkers to imagine the place we were in, what it would look like with water lapping around the base of the trees.  In the past, this wetland may have had as much as 50 cm of water in it.  Here's a photo I took in September 2008, after heavy rain.  This is what the wetland should always look like in winter.  (In summer, it dries out and the soil becomes hard.)  On the day of our walk, the ground was quite hard and only slightly damp, because the rain was so light.

The children were excited, and found many interesting things to share; a broken eggshell, perhaps from an owl's nest, some Pink Fountain Triggerplants (Stylidium brunonianum), a small Wolf spider, a butterfly hanging upside-down to avoid the raindrops, grasshoppers, kangaroo scats, a mantis egg-case. To them, it was a magical place - so many things to see, and lots of questions to ask!  

I had given the children some rubbish bags, gloves and tongs, and they burnt off their excess energy pouncing on drink cans and odd pieces of food wrapper that had somehow made their way into the wetland.  (What a great way to tidy up a bush reserve!)  The adults had relaxed; one even commented that the wetland had looked scary from outside, but was ok after all. One keen photographer found a Purple Enamel Orchid (Elythranthera brunonis), and someone else found Cowslip Orchids (Caladenia flava). 

We discussed the need to look, listen and be aware of surroundings, including being careful where to walk.  We talked about snakes and spiders, about the antlions waiting in the bottom of their sand pit traps to catch and eat ants.  We admired the drifts of White Myrtle (Hypocalymma angustifolium).  We looked at the vandalism of the paperbarks, and decided that vandalism is not the best way to interact with our wetlands.  

I'm sure that these walkers will be good custodians of their local wetland treasure.  

Petition for our cockatoos

If you're a resident of Ellenbrook, you'll have seen our big beautiful squawky cockatoos flying over.  They are Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris).  They are an iconic species, once numbering in thousands of birds.  But now they are in trouble.  Because so many hectares of the trees they feed on have been cleared, their numbers have plummetted.

Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo are listed as Endangered under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.  

Let's act now to stop more trees being cleared, and give the birds a chance at survival.  Please click on the website below, and sign the petition.

http://cockatoosneedyou.org.au/

Wildflower photos from our Photography Safari

I was so busy talking with the large group of people that turned up for our Wildflower Photography Safari (12th September) that I didn't take many photos.  But here are some of the photos I did take...

Devil's Pins (Hovea pungens) has purple flowers and stiff leaves with sharp points.  It is in the pea family (Fabaceae), and like other peas, produces succulent pods.  Unfortunately the pods aren't edible!

Acacia sessilis is a low-growing wattle with little yellow pom-pom flowers.  As you can see, it has very similar foliage to Hovea pungens; short spiny leaves.

This is the kind of scenery we were surrounded by during our walk.  It's called "open woodland"; small trees that are not too close together, with lots of little shrubs and other interesting plants growing underneath.  It's very easy country to walk through.  The tree in the middle of the photo is Pricklybark (Eucalyptus todtiana), one of my favourite local trees because of its multiple sculptural trunks.  The yellow-flowering shrubs around it are Prickly Moses (Acacia pulchella), another small wattle with pom-poms.

Some sharp-eyed bushwalker found this beautiful spider orchid (Caladenia species).  I haven't decided which species it is yet.  

There are at least eight species of Caladenia around Ellenbrook, with many subspecies.  The most common is the yellow Cowslip (Caladenia flava), of which we saw many during our walk.  The Catspaw (Anigozanthos humilis) were starting to come into flower, too.

We all enjoyed our walk, since the weather was cool and there were few ticks.  We're hoping to do this again soon!

one sick lizard

On a recent expedition, someone found a very sick bobtail lizard in bushland.  It was emaciated, with a skinny flat tail where it should have a big lumpy fatty one.  Although the weather was reasonably warm, the lizard was lethargic and slow-moving.  No hissing, no wide-mouthed threat display; no defensive response at all.  Instead, half-closed eyes, and a general disinterest in its surroundings.  (Exactly how I feel when I have the 'flu.)  Off to the vet with you!

Poor bobtail was taken to Kanyana Wildlife Hospital for some expert care and attention.  You can read about the treatment they give to bobtail flu victims on this link.  

Bobtails, also known as sleepy lizards, pinecone lizards, blue-tongues and shinglebacks, are one of the most commonly-encountered reptiles in the bush.  They have the appearance of a  slow-moving mini dinosaur. They are not venomous, but their strong jaws are designed for crushing invertebrates so they can give a hard bite.  Sometimes they can be found in gardens, where they can thrive and do a brilliant job of keeping the snails and slugs under control.  Read more about bobtails here.

If our lizard recovers, it will be brought home to be released in its local bushland home, close to where it came from.

Another adventure in our bushland

I went for a bushwalk yesterday to see what wildflowers are starting to come out. The bush was glowing with the rich yellows of Hibbertia (Hibbertia subvaginata) and Prickly Moses (Acacia pulchella), and warm orange pea flowers (Bossiaea eriocarpa and Euchilopsis linearis) as well. I wandered through groves of Pricklybark (Eucalyptus todtiana) and the many different banksias, pausing to admire the stout trunks and thick foliage of the WA Christmas Trees (Nuytsia floribunda). 

Further on, I stopped to gaze downslope at the paperbarks and wetland sedges about fifty metres to my left. A distant rustling drew my attention to a small dark animal pushing slowly through the undergrowth about twenty metres away. What could it be? It was about the size of a basketball, but not quite as round of course, and moving deliberately without any sign of fear, so it probably hadn't noticed me. I carefully slid my backpack to the ground, and stooping, took out my camera, all the while keeping my eyes on the dark fur.

The animal moved a little closer, and then I could see long caramel-coloured spines on the fat body.  I saw the small head come up momentarily and there was a long dark beak. Ahah!

(Can you see the animal in this photo?)

What a wonderful sight on a cool winter's afternoon!  I moved in a little closer and took another photo, keeping the breeze in my face and the animal in front of me so it would not be able to pick up my human scent.  (These animals reputedly have poor eyesight but good hearing and an excellent sense of smell.)  I moved as stealthily as I could, but it was difficult because there were dry leaves and branches scattered everywhere across the sand.

It was a big fat echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), foraging for food.  The photo above is a back view - see the lovely patterns of spines around the two back legs and the tail?  Usually echidnas don't come out during the day unless the weather is cool; they're nocturnal and seldom seen.  I have spotted echidnas in broad daylight before, but this was the first time I'd had a camera with me; a great opportunity for photos.  

I followed the echidna around for about fifteen minutes, watching quietly as it thrust its beak into the ground, or waddled around amongst fallen timber looking for termites and ants.

In this photo, the echidna has the front part of its head in the ground.  I watched as it dug a furrow and broke open an underground termites' nest, pushing its head along just under the surface, propelled by short stout (and very strong) legs.  Here's a photo of the furrow it left.

Lastly, the echidna climbed up on some fallen timber to investigate its potential for termites, and I managed to get the best picture of the day.

The bushland continues to amaze me; something new to experience every time.

Celebrate the arrival of spring - Wildflower Photography Safari

Spring is just around the corner and we'll soon be heading off into the bush to capture some of our stunning wildflowers on camera.  Here are the details:

Wildflower Photography Safari

When:  Sunday 12th September

Where: meet at 8:30 am at The Grapevine carpark, Brookmount Drive, Charlotte's Vineyard

What to bring: camera, macro lens if you have one, water bottle, notepad

What to wear: sturdy boots or shoes, long socks, long pants, long-sleeved shirt, hat

Please leave pets at home, as we will be going into a nature reserve.

Beginning bushwalkers are welcome!  The walk will be guided by experienced local biologists and nature photographers, who know the local bushland because they've walked in it so often.

We hope to find the elusive orchids, triggerplants and sundews, which are only visible during certain times of the year.

Ellenbrook has many species of these plants in local bushland.  There will be lots of other flowers as well, such as cottonheads, (Conostylis), Hibbertia, myrtles (Hypocalymma), acacia and maybe some native flags (Patersonia occidentalis).  

Sharing knowledge with the community

One of the big threats to local bushland is land clearing.  Often, bushland is cleared in one morning's work in a bulldozer.  It's very sad to see the carnage afterwards - broken trees, shrubs that have been ripped out of the ground, plants that could have been transplanted but were instead broken in half, dead lizards, and perhaps the most heart-rending; birds flying around trying to land in invisible trees where their nests had been.  There must be a better way to create a new subdivision than this.

Some of our local animals are very slow moving, especially the reptiles in cool weather.  They're just not fast enough to get away from a bulldozer.  This bobtail was run over by a bulldozer.

At other times, bushland dies a death of a thousand cuts - what starts as healthy trees and understorey is gradually killed off by the actions of grazing animals, off-road enthusiasts, arsonists, rubbish dumpers, weeds and feral animals.  At the end of this, the patch of bushland may be so severely degraded that it no longer looks attractive, and owners or neighbours are keen to see it bulldozed.   

One of the aims of the Ellenbrook Bushland Group is to educate people on how to look after bushland.  Firstly, it's about showing people the value of bushland.  Bushland helps to improve our local air, water and soil quality, and a walk amongst healthy trees and birds is good for one's health and wellbeing.  It's perhaps even more enjoyable if you know what you are looking at when you go for a walk - if you can put a name to the flowers and trees, and understand how the animals fit in.  How many people have seen this little animal, and know what it is?

I'm still surprised by people who look at wildflowers and think they are just weeds; it just shows how little some people know about where they live.  For example, I've heard banksia woodland (shown below) described as "just scrub" or "cr@ppy bushland".  (Have some respect!!)

Secondly, it's knowing that bushland doesn't need fertilizers, sprinklers, mulch, or other "exotic" treatments to stay healthy (and these things are actually detrimental to the health of our bushland.)  It's appreciating the ancient trees, cycads and other plants for what they are.  It's recognising the amazing adaptations in our local bushland; the intricate webs that strengthen the survival rates of the lifeforms, and produce a stunning array of patterns, shapes, colours, smells and movement...this is what biodiversity is about, and we are part of it.

We need to ensure that the small areas of bushland still remaining are retained.  And we can all help by picking up the occasional scrap of rubbish, pulling a weed out, and keeping our vehicles and pets out of nature reserves. 

Dumping in bushland

During a recent discussion with some neighbours and local government, the subject of rubbish came up.  It seems that we're all tired of seeing people throwing rubbish out of car windows, especially cigarette butts on a hot dry summer's day.  What a fire hazard!  But there's something else that is just as irresponsible.

Here's something highly unpleasant that I occasionally see when I go bushwalking....

It's obviously rubbish from someone's backyard make-over; timber and corrugated iron that was probably a fence or a backyard shed.  A couple of bags of household rubbish (clothes, old tools, etc) were tossed to the right.  There's some broken plate glass in there too. It was all dumped on the side of a dirt track in bushland near Ellenbrook.  I have reported it and hope that it is cleaned up soon, but the authorities tell me that in some areas they have to do weekly cleanups to remove this kind of rubbish, and worse.  I have seen washing machines, televisions, computers, sacks of chicken carcasses, car parts, old medicines, newspapers, building materials, lawn clippings and furniture.

I don't understand why people do this.  Why do some people find it easier to load a huge pile of rubbish onto a 4WD to drive many kilometres and dump it in beautiful bushland?  (Rather than go to a tip, or even wait for one of our regular kerbside clean-up days, like other people?)  Why do some people treat our bushland (and our beaches, rivers, wetlands and other natural areas) with such disregard?  What is lacking in their education and sense of self that would make them  do such a thing?

The Grandmother Tree

Many people living around Perth have no idea of the size and antiquity of our indigenous trees.  I suspect some have never visited our extraordinary bushland areas!

I'd like to share with you some photos of "The Grandmother Tree", which lives in a Bush Forever Site next to Ellenbrook.  The base of the tree measures about 5m in circumference.  The tree species is Stout Paperbark (Melaleuca preissiana). 

Photos do not do it justice!  I haven't been able to find tables matching age of this species to its girth, so can only guess at how long it has been growing.  Since Federation (January 1901) - a mere 110 years?  Absolutely.  Since European settlement of Western Australia (in 1829), 180 years ago?  Highly likely.  I suspect this tree might be closer to 300 years old, or even more.  The soft papery bark bears scars from some bushfires over its lifetime, and has, paradoxically, protected the tree from being burnt.  These large trees provide nectar for honeyeaters and Honey Possums, as well as shelter and a place to raise their young.

You would think that such an enormous tree would stand out like a sore thumb in the landscape.  But look at this photo, taken from a hilltop.  The Grandmother Tree is in the middle distance, about 250m away, on the right.  Can you see it in this photo?

(Not the tall jarrah!)  How about in this one, a section of the above photo enlarged?  

The Grandmother Tree is in a low part of the landscape, and is the dark patch in the middle, to the left of the tall Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) which is on a hill.  It's not the only large tree in the area.  Here it is circled below in yellow.

This tree is one of our local treasures.  It, and others like it, is an important part of local biodiversity, and needs to be conserved and protected from any proposed development or changes to land planning.

Perfect weather for bushwalking

With the recent appearance of cooler temperatures (around 19 to 25 degrees Celsius during the day) it's suddenly become an absolutely perfect time to explore our local bushland.  We've had two guided bushwalks into the areas north of Charlottes Vineyard, on the mornings of Friday 14th and Saturday 15th May.  

The Firewood Banksia (Banksia menziesii) is just starting to come into flower now, so some of the honeyeaters are visiting it to collect its nectar.  This tree also provides food (seeds and borer grubs) for the endangered Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo.

Friday 14th May - Wild Women's Walk

The group of intrepid walkers braved a cool morning to climb to the lookout and watch the sun rising over the hills through layers of fog.  Then we headed off to the north,  through banksias and WA Christmas trees, to visit one of Fat Bobbie's favourite spots - a huge old Stout Paperbark (Melaleuca preissiana) which has been nicknamed "the Grandmother tree".  This tree measures five metres around its base, and has a beautifully gnarled papery trunk marked by bushfires.  

Birds started to come out to call and forage as we picked our way through the trees to return to the hilltop.  We stopped to look at ancient cycads (Macrozamia riedlei) on the way.

Saturday 15th May - Family Bush Adventure
Not much fog on this morning, but plenty of animal tracks to look at!  The children found the tracks of Western Grey Kangaroos, Black-gloved Wallabies, Southern Brown Bandicoots and Common Bronzewing on their trek through the banksia woodland.  

(If we weren't so noisy, we may have seen a couple of these animals during our adventure.)  

We also stopped to admire a grove of small Pricklybark (Eucalyptus todtiana) growing in the sand.

One of the kids found a patch of sundews (Drosera sp.), and our resident botanist explained how these little plants feed on insects to supplement the low nitrogen levels of the soil.  Our trek took us along an old bush track through banksia woodland, and then through an old pine plantation to return to the lookout.

For future events, please check our listings above, as we will soon be adding more.

Twilight adventure in Karakamia

Last night, a large group of excited adults and children visited Karakamia Wildlife Sanctuary.  Karakamia is run by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and covers over 200ha of beautiful bushland with jarrah and marri trees, with rolling hills and small creeklines. 

The first place we visited was the information centre, a rustic log house, where we met our guides, and split into two smaller groups.

Our guides took us carefully through the bush just after sundown.  We learned about the various nocturnal mammals that live in the forest, such as the woylie (a.k.a. Brush-tailed Bettong), quenda (Southern Brown Bandicoot) and Tammar wallabies.  We saw all of these animals during our walk, as they foraged in the undergrowth for their food, safe from harm.  Karakamia Sanctuary is surrounded by a "predator-proof" fence, which keeps out feral animals like foxes, cats and dogs.

There were so many things to look at; golden orb spiders, leaf-curl spiders, trees that are hundreds of years old, and places where animals had dug for food.  We saw a trapline put in by visiting biologists to study small animals.  Our guides showed us places where some of the animals live, such as goanna burrows, and possum hollows in wandoo trees.  We learned a little bit about the jarrah forest web of life.

After two hours of walking, looking and listening, we headed back to the log house for well-deserved cups of tea and snacks.  What an exciting adventure! 

Ellenbrook Bushland Group, in association with City of Swan, is planning more adventures like this one for local residents.  Keep an eye on the Upcoming Events listing above.

The Great Cocky Count - debriefing

I headed out yesterday afternoon to my designated observation site near The Vines to take part in The Great Cocky Count.  It was beautiful weather; clear skies with almost no cloud, and comfortably cool (around 22 degrees Celsius).  The site was in a Bush Forever area, and a quick walk around it revealed large mature paperbark trees (mostly Melaleuca rhaphiophylla) as well as Marri (Corymbia calophylla) and other gum trees, surrounding a natural spring.  I chose a place on top of nearby earthworks, about 180 metres away, to view the site as dusk approached.  Two kangaroos bounded past, startled.

It was a quiet evening.  I waited impatiently for Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) to make an appearance.  Usually flocks of these birds can be heard from several hundred metres away, but I heard only a few magpies and butcherbirds carolling the sunset.  I watched the colours changing on the Perth Hills with the fading light, and picked a few more ticks off my socks.  Commercial jets droned overhead on their early descent to Perth airport, all flashing lights and brightly-lit tails.  But no flocks of big black birds arrived.  It soon became obvious that Carnaby's might not be coming to roost on this occasion.  

At 6:40pm, I packed up my binoculars and notepad.  My count for the evening was zero.  From a scientific viewpoint, this is still a result, and however disappointing, it's important that it's included in the survey.  I hope the other volunteers had more impressive counts!

 

NEEDED - field assistants for The Great Cocky Count 2010

Wednesday April 7th is marked on our calendars for the next Great Cocky Count - a day when dedicated birdwatchers "stake out" at likely places to watch Carnaby's Black-Cockatoos as they come in to roost.

Although flocks of hundreds of birds are sometimes seen, the numbers of Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo have fallen by 50% over the last forty years.  Many areas of cockatoo food plants have been cleared, and the cockatoos face competition from feral animals for nesting sites. 

This survey helps scientists to work out what is happening with this Endangered species, and hopefully show local government and other groups which areas of bushland need to be retained for the species' survival.  The survey is a joint project between Birds Australia and the Department of Environment and Conservation.

The Great Cocky Count is an excellent way to help our local biodiversity.  If you would like to join Fat Bobbie for the Great Cocky Count, and help her with recording the numbers of birds coming in to roost, please send an email to ldalgliesh at hotmail dot com with your name and contact details.  First in, best dressed!  The evening's "stake out" will start around 5:30pm, and you will need to be fit enough to walk about 2km across rough terrain (and in the dark!) to the survey site and back.  

Read more about the Great Cocky Count in my Community, and about the biology of Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo on Wikipedia and the Threatened Species Day website.