Are predictions any more hopeful for populations in NSW and QLD? I fear the worst for Glossy populations in Far East Gippsland/Mallacoota and Kangaroo Island. Knowing what a specialised diet these birds have and watching the fire map which shows the size and spread of the fires’ range and its predicted (and already known) impact on Glossy habitat and feed trees is beyond heartbreaking. I’m devastated to see the extent of the fires across their range in 4 states from Queensland, to NSW, Victoria and SA (Kangaroo Island). ![]() I’ve been desperately trying to find out more information about how our Glossies have fared for days. Leo Joseph is Director of CSIRO’s Australian National Wildlife Collection and, with friends and colleagues, initiated study of Kangaroo Island’s Glossy Black-Cockatoos in 1979-80.įind out about the impact on bushfires on Australian insects. Mallacoota is well known as a place to see Glossy Black-Cockatoos, as I was fortunate to do so last March when visiting the area.Īs with so many species, we anxiously await the news that will filter through as it becomes safe to investigate burned areas and assess the real extent of these fires. The mainland population, while numerically larger and scattered in loosely connected subpopulations, will likely be suffering all the same consequences. The population’s viability is likely to be hugely stressed. It is simply too soon to know whether the Kangaroo Island Glossies will starve or what the eventual outcome will be. This is due to the cascade of disrupted ecological interactions that severe bushfires can cause. This means that intense bushfires can have far more devastating effects on Glossies than we may at first think. Like all black-cockatoos, the birds take several years to reach sexual maturity. Such trees are prone to being felled in fires of this intensity. On Kangaroo Island, these are principally Sugar Gums, Eucalyptus cladocalyx, and Blue Gums, E. Glossies need tall eucalypts with suitably sized nest-hollows for breeding. If the birds survived the fires then their nearest unburned feeding areas may well be the less Allocasuarina-rich parts of the island’s eastern end. We just don’t know the details yet. On Kangaroo Island, Glossy strongholds are precisely the areas that have been burned on the north and west coasts of the island. Glossy Black-Cockatoos on Kangaroo Island If bushfires had always been as intense as the current ones, we probably would not have Glossy Black-Cockatoos as we know them. This can have a truly devastating effect on the food supply of Glossies, both immediately and for years afterwards. Intense bushfires can wipe out feeding habitat rather than leaving a mosaic of burned and unburned areas. It’s not surprising that suitable female food trees are always patchily distributed.Īllocasuarina trees take ten years or more to produce cones and even longer to have branches thick enough to support the weight of a Glossy trying to feed. Allocasuarina trees have probably not taken this kind of predation without an evolutionary fight. The birds spend hours every day extracting the seeds from the closed valves of these cones. The seeds that Glossies eat are produced only by female trees. littoralis (just about everywhere else).Īllocasuarina trees are dioecious, meaning that male and female trees are separate individual trees. ![]() verticillata (on Kangaroo Island and in the Riverina) and A. Their primary food trees are the species A. They feed almost solely on the seeds of casuarina trees in the genus Allocasuarina, not the more familiar river casuarinas such as Casuarina cunninghamiana. Glossies are among the most diet-specialised birds in the world. Glossy Black-Cockatoo feeding on casuarina seeds (Source: Brian McCauley, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 ) A highly specialised diet
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |