Sunshine Coast Birds

Birding and other wildlife experiences from the Sunshine Coast and elsewhere in Australia - and from overseas - with scribblings about travel, environmental issues, kayaking, hiking and camping.

Friday 30 March 2018

Yellow-tufted Honeyeater colony threatened on Sunshine Coast

Palmview Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters

The only colony of the highly localised Yellow-tufted Honeyeater on the Sunshine Coast is under assault from a combination of a massive new real estate development and extensive roadworks. Thanks to Sarah Beavis and Rob Kernot for alerting me to the presence of the honeyeater colony in the Palmview Conservation Park.

Yellow-tufted Honeyeater
The reserve, directly opposite the historic Ettamogah Pub, has been hacked into by the Queensland Department of Main Roads and Transport as part of the $1 billion upgrade of the Bruce Highway. There is no point in creating national parks and other reserves if their boundaries can be altered at the stroke of a pen. Palmview is one of several conservation reserves to be carved up to make way for the highway upgrade.

Palmview Conservation Park - carved up for highway upgrade
At the same time, the huge $3 billion Harmony estate is being developed on an extensive area of low-lying land abutting the northern end of Palmview Conservation Park. The development will eventually deliver 4,800 homes for 12,000 residents on 100ha of land, spectacularly extending the urban sprawl of the southern Sunshine Coast. See here for more on the rampant destruction of rainforest and other native vegetation underway in the region. Activist Ted Fensom has been leading the way in highlighting this environmental onslaught.

Activist Ted Fensom outside Harmony real estate development
Palmview is set to become like most of the region's reserves - an island in a sea of suburbia. That's all the more reason to ensure such places are not chopped up for roadworks and other infrastructure. The colony of Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters (I saw 12-15 birds) favours thicker vegetation in the reserve at its northern end - an area that will be fronted by a sea of houses in the not too distant future. 

Palmview Conservation Park
Other birds in the reserve included this Fantailed Cuckoo (elist).

Fantailed Cuckoo
In other birdy news, I had Stubble Quail, Brown Quail and King Quail together on a cane farm near Bli Bli (ebird); Stubble Quail was a new bird for the Sunshine Coast when it turned up here in January. Good numbers of White-throated Needletail were also present here.

White-throated Needletail
  I saw a Little Bronze-Cuckoo at Finland Road, and Varied Sittella showed nicely at Moy Pocket. 

Little Bronze-Cuckoo
Varied Sittella
Quite a few Arctic Jaegers were harassing the large flocks of Common Terns and Crested Terns present at Noosa North Shore, where a White-bellied Sea-Eagle also found cause to annoy a tern. We had a pleasurable three nights camping at the caravan park there (elist

Arctic Jaeger chasing Crested Tern
White-bellied Sea-Eagle & Common Tern
This Comb-crested Jacana in flight at Wappa Dam was nice.

Comb-crested Jacana

Friday 16 March 2018

The debacle that is the conservation status of Coxen's Fig-Parrot





While debate continues over the roll of recovery teams in managing the night parrot, the status of another imperilled parrot, Coxen's Fig-Parrot, has bizarrely been downgraded from critically endangered to endangered. This is another example of an endangered species recovery team going off the rails.

The Queensland Government's threatened species unit, which effectively doubles as the fig-parrot's recovery team, has long claimed the Coxen's Fig-Parrot occurs in four disjunct areas in south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales, with a total population of between 50 and 250. No evidence has been offered to support these numbers; they amount to a wild guess.

The threatened species unit and the recovery team have long insisted the fig-parrot is regularly reported, but no record has been corroborated for a very long time by follow-up observations, a photograph, specimen, or sound-recording. The last corroborated sightings of the bird may have been as long ago as the late-1970s although a handful of these reports, while not confirmed by evidence or follow-up sightings, may be authentic. It's often said fig-parrots are so tiny and obscure they are easily overlooked, but they are not that difficult to locate when they are about. Plenty of good observers in this bird's range have looked long and hard without success for firm evidence of Coxen's Fig-Parrot.

The threatened species unit says now that because its estimate of the population is unchanged in recent years, the bird can no longer be regarded as critically endangered. So the parrot's status was downgraded to endangered by BirdLife International, the reason being that the bird's population "should not be considered as declining and instead could be considered stable". In the absence of evidence of a population decline, the bird does not qualify for listing under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List criteria.

Here is a comment from the threatened species unit head, Ian Gynther, to Rob Morris on Facebook: "The fact that this results in a down-listing to Endangered for a bird so seldom encountered and about which we lack so much basic knowledge is regrettable but it is, nevertheless, unavoidable based on the existing population thresholds."

In other words, unsubstantiated reports keep flowing to Gynther's team at such a rate that they have decided their estimated population of 50-250 is not declining and remains stable. Some observers are unkind enough to think this is scientific silliness writ large. This bird may in fact be extinct in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, but its conservation status is downgraded. Go figure.

In May last year I attended a talk given by two women closely associated with the threatened species unit – Rachael O'Flynn and Llana Kelly from Noosa and District Landcare – to the Noosa Parks Association on the Sunshine Coast. I listened as the pair talked about how the fig-parrots were out and about, how lucky we were to have them in our area, and how we need to plant lots of fig trees to boost their numbers. The audience was given the clear impression that Coxen's Fig-Parrot was doing quite well and had a bright future.

During question time, when I suggested to Ms O'Flynn and Ms Kelly that in fact there had been no corroborated records of the bird anywhere for decades, I was told essentially that I didn't know what I was talking about. Ms Kelly added that anyway, other wildlife will benefit from the good work being done for the fig-parrot; this may be true but is hardly relevant to the issue at hand.

Meanwhile, just like the night parrot recovery team, the threatened species unit is big on secrecy. When somebody reports a sighting of Coxen's Fig-Parrot, they are told by the threatened species unit not to share information with the birding community. No alerts are dispatched; the only people sent to check are Queensland Environment Department personnel. So the chances of corroborating the record with further sightings are seriously limited. Again, go figure.
















Thursday 15 March 2018

Pectoral Sandpiper, Broad-billed Sandpiper & other shorebirds Toorbul-Godwin Beach

Pectoral Sandpiper
A Pectoral Sandpiper was present today at Bishops Marsh near Toorbul. The bird was hanging around with about 12 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, one of which had pretty well-defined breast markings. The Pec however wasn't difficult to find. Full marks to Stewart Melton for spotting this bird yesterday.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Not too many shorebirds were present at the Toorbul high tide roost nearby but the mix of species below was nice. I've noticed this season that the birds at the roost have been extremely skittish and often they are absent when the tide is particularly high, as it was today. Local birders tell me that numbers using the roost have been affected adversely by cannon-netting by bird banders. People and their dogs are a constant problem. Birders are not blameless, often approaching the birds too closely. I was there recently when contractors for the Moreton Bay Regional Council, which is supposed to safeguard the site, ignored my pleas and mowed the grassy bank just as 3000 shorebirds had settled in; the birds immediately left and had not returned an hour later.

Gull-billed Tern, White-headed Stilt, Great Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit
Other shorebirds about Toorbul, Bishops Marsh and a wetland along Freeman Road recently include Red-kneed Dotterel, good numbers of Black-tailed Godwit and Marsh Sandpiper. Brolga has been regular at Bishops Marsh.

Brolga

Red-kneed Dotterel

Black-tailed Godwit

Marsh Sandpiper
Good numbers of Eastern Curlew were roosting amid mangroves at high tide some distance from the Toorbul roost.

Eastern Curlew
 Just six kilometres away from Toorbul in a straight line is Godwin Beach. This is a good spot during short windows of time before and after high tide. Last week I found three Broad-billed Sandpipers here on an incoming tide.

Broad-billed Sandpiper
Great Knots are common and this one was banded at Toorbul in 2012, so it has presumably undergone annual migrations amounting to many tens of thousands of kilometres. It would make the regular short journey to feed at Godwin Beach from its high tide roost. This could be Toorbul or on Bribie Island at Kakadu or Red Beach; the birds seem to move between the three main roosting sites quite a bit.

Great Knot
Godwin Beach is a good spot for Terek Sandpiper.

Terek Sandpiper
Bribie Island is close by and what follows is a selection of shorebirds seen over the past couple of weeks at Red Beach, Pacific Harbour and the Kakadu roost.

Greater Sand-Plover 

Bar-tailed Godwit

Lesser Sand-Plover

Pacific Golden Plover
Curlew-Sandpiper

Saturday 10 March 2018

Second Night Parrot disappears




Night Parrot - Pic by John Young
The following is the transcript of my story in The Weekend Australian of 10-11 March, 2018.

A second critically endangered night parrot disappeared after its mate vanished when it was caught and fitted with a radio transmitter by a team of experts charged with saving the birds from extinction.

The revelation prompted calls for the federal government to sack the night parrot recovery team and appoint a senior public servant to oversee the conservation program.

The night parrot is one of the rarest birds in the world. It had scarcely been reported for more than a century before naturalist John Young photographed one in western Queensland in 2013.

A pair of night parrots were discovered in the East Murchison area of Western Australia in March 2017. The Weekend Australian reported two weeks ago that recovery team chief Allan Burbidge led an expedition to the site five months later. The team caught one of the parrots in a net and fitted it with a transmitter, but no trace of the bird was found subsequently.

Recovery team sources said for the next three nights, a second parrot called frequently at the site during the night as it tried to find its missing mate. The second bird then evidently vanished.

Dr Burbidge says the transmitter failed, and there is no evidence the bird fled the area because it was traumatised, or fell victim to a predator because it was injured or encumbered by the device.

But one of Dr Burbidge's team, Tasmanian zoologist Mark Holdsworth, said it was possible the parrot perished. “That couldn't be ruled out,” he said.

Dr Burbidge agreed a second parrot was calling at the site when the bird was caught. “Steps were taken to specifically avoid flushing or catching this bird,” he said. “The signal from the transmitter was lost on the first night but... one bird was roosting at the capture site for at least two nights after the capture. It later appeared to roost elsewhere.”

Zoologists Mark Carter and Chris Watson recorded the calls of what was believed to be a night parrot in the Northern Territory in January 2017. Night parrot recovery team guidelines warn birds should not be flushed from daytime roosts: “Doing so will expose them to diurnal predators and potential heat stress.”

But Mr Carter said the team urged him to flush birds to photograph them. He was told this was standard practice on Pullen Pullen, the Queensland reserve where Mr Young photographed his birds.

Referring to the WA capture, Mr Carter said: “Now we learn... the “experts” undertook extremely risky interventions.” Mr Carter said the team should be replaced by a senior statutory officer.

End of story.

What follows are expanded comments from Mark Carter, a well-regarded Alice Springs birding guide.

Commenting on an approach by the recovery team about the NT bird: "The idea was that I would flush the bird in daylight to get photographs to ‘confirm’ the presence of the species. I was assured that this was a common occurrence at Pullen Pullen and that it did no harm to the birds. They also made this request to the NT Government. I was against taking any such action as I felt the risk of flushed birds being injured or killed by predators or of disturbing any nests was too high just to further confirm what we already knew from sound recordings and observers hearing the birds call at the site."  

Elaborating on the possible fate of the two WA birds: “Now we learn that in one case at least ’the experts’ have been undertaking extremely risky interventions which are not justified by the possible outcomes. Currently we know of very few sites for this species and each individual bird has to be considered to be extremely valuable and precious. We know very little about their capacity to tolerate disturbance but the early indications are not promising- deliberate disturbance to the birds has huge potential to do harm."

One of Burbidge's expedition members, Mark Holdsworth, Tasmanian zoologist of orange-bellied parrot fame, begs to differ. Holdsworth took to Twitter to dismiss my first report as "bullshit". When I asked him to indicate errors in the story, Holdsworth responded by blocking me. I thought this was ironic given it was Holdsworth who had confirmed to me rumours about the capture before the story was published. Moreover, as indicated above, Holdsworth agreed it is not possible to say that the captured night parrot is dead or alive. "We have no way of knowing what happened to that bird,” he said.

It's worth noting that most of the 15 people on the night parrot recovery team were not aware of the plan to capture and tag a bird in WA. Asked if there was any obligation on him to consult the whole team, Burbidge told me: "Tracking of night parrots was identified as an action in the Night Parrot  Research Plan. Since 2014, there have been discussions in the recovery team regarding potential tracking projects." 

Burbidge says the netting and capture was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of the WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.









Tuesday 6 March 2018

Sunshine Coast Pelagic March 2018

Flesh-footed Shearwater

We departed Mooloolaba Marina on Sunday March 4, 2018 at 6.35am. A steady 10-12 knot westerly (a far from desirable direction), a swell of 1-1.5m, and partially cloudy skies were the order of the day, with the temperature reaching 30.  About half way out to the shelf we encountered a single Fluttering Shearwater – a species we don't often see - posing nicely.



A few Hutton's Shearwaters and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were the only other birds we encountered before cutting the engine off the shelf at 9.30am, 33 nautical miles offshore in 300 metres: 26.3865 S, 153.52436 E. We began laying a berley trail and were soon joined by a couple of Flesh-footed Shearwaters; a few of these birds were about the boat the whole time we were on the shelf.

Flesh-footed Shearwater
We'd not been out there long when we saw a distant Buller's Shearwater on the horizon which unfortunately didn't come close. Later in the morning a female Lesser Frigatebird flew over.

Lesser Frigatebird
A couple of Pomarine Jaegers put in appearances, as did a single Tahiti Petrel. However, with that gentle westerly, it was pretty dead out there so we turned around at 12pm after drifting south-west for 5 nautical miles.  We stopped in 160 metres to try our luck with another berley trail and saw a second Lesser Frigatebird and more Pomarine Jaegers. We arrived back at the marina at 3.35pm, seeing a few more Hutton's Shearwaters and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters on the way back.

Hutton's Shearwater
PARTICIPANTS: Greg Roberts (organiser), Toby Imhoff (skipper), Zoe Williams (deckhand),
Eric Anderson, Margie Baker, Tony Baker, Sarah Beavis, Phil Cross, Jo Culican, Alex Ferguson, John Gunning, Nikolas Haass, Bob James, Elliot Leach, Sue Lee, James Martin, Rob Kernot, Andrew Naumann, Karen Rose, Raja Stephenson, Carolyn Stewart. Ebird list.

SPECIES: Total (Maximum number at one time)

Tahiti Petrel 1 (1),
Flesh-footed Shearwater 12 (5),
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 25 (6),
Hutton's Shearwater 8 (2),
Fluttering Shearwater 1 (1),
Buller's Shearwater 1 (1),
Lesser Frigatebird 2 (1),
Pomarine Jaeger 6 (2),
Crested Tern 15 (15),
Silver Gull 3 (3).

Offshore Bottle-nosed Dolphin 15 (6)