WINTER 2010 Vol. 47 No. 2 $1095 inc gst
Global Connections See New Guinea in Australia A visit to ‘the mystery continent’ Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve
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Winter 2010 Volume 47 No. 2
CONTENTS
WILDLIFE Australia is published by the community conservation group Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland as a major environmental awareness and educational initiative.
Regulars 2
Editorial Saren Starbridge
5 95 William Street Brisbane Qld 4000 Australia Telephone: Fax: E-mail: Web site:
+61 (7) 3221 0194 +61 (7) 3221 0701 wpsq@wildlife.org.au www.wildlife.org.au
EDITOR Saren Starbridge / editor@wildlife.org.au DESIGN & ARTWORK www.kathfarley.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Ewa Meyer EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Grant Dobinson / editplus.com.au PRINTER Peninsula Colour
WPSQ In Action Strength from co-operation Trish LeeHong
6
WinterSkies Global Endeavours Mark T. Rigby
7
NatureWatch How and where to see wildlife around Australia Compiled by Martin Cohen
40 Scratchings & Rustlings Global hazards for summer birds Greg Czechura
41 CityAnimal
SUBSCRIPTIONS See page 3 or download a subscription form from www.wildlife-australia.org Enquiries: + 61 (7) 3221 0194 or email wam@wildlife.org.au
Ducking the issues Darryl Jones
MAGAZINE COMMITTEE Ewa Meyer, Tim Meyer, Kieran Aland, Lee K. Curtis, Christine Pfitzner, Saren Starbridge ADVERTISING: HELP YOUR BUSINESS, HELP WILDLIFE For details on advertising in Wildlife Australia, please contact the WPSQ office, ph (07) 3221 0194 or email advertising@wildlife.org.au CONTRIBUTORS Wildlife Australia welcomes contributions of articles and photographs; please contact us first with your proposal: editor@wildlife.org.au Future themes Spring 2010 Summer 2010 Autumn 2011 Winter 2011
Wildlife with altitude Future generations Networks Tooth and claw
Any opinions expressed or claims made by contributors or advertisers in this magazine are accepted in good faith and not necessarily those of, or confirmed by, the publishers. Š All material in this magazine is copyright and may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission. All requests should be addressed to the editor.
ISSN 0043-5481
42 Six Species
AT E T GRGIF A 3 E ID PAGE E
SE
Honeyeaters By Lee K. Curtis
44 Book Reviews 45 Considering Time to talk Ilka Blue Nelson
46 CyberJungle Stephen Goodwin
48 Trekabout Photography Little egret Michael Snedic
49 Wildlife Crossword Sarah Martin KEEP DISCOVERING WILDLIFE
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Australian adventure By Martin Pepper An American biologist discovers Australia by throwing himself, his enthusiasm and his camera into the heart of some wildlife research projects.
Outer limits: wildlife of Cape York Peninsula By Martin Cohen Wildlife connections between New Guinea and Australia’s north-east corner, influenced by ice ages and sea level rises, are protected in remote KULLA National Park.
18 Sieze the rains By Steve G. Wilson Arid zone wildlife grabs a moment of mud and moisture for a brief but prolific flourishing of species.
n Cohen Photo © Marti
COVER PHOTO by Martin Cohen Fringed treefrog (Litoria eucnemis) he fringed treefrog, abundant throughout the rainforests of New Guinea, is a species whose distribution continues into Australia’s Cape York Peninsula, but does not cross the dry savannah barrier along the Cape’s southern boundary. This photo was taken after a long, difficult fourwheel drive into KULLA National Park followed by a two-hour hike with full backpacks to a camping site and a walk later that night along small, rainforest creeks.
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‘It was the first time I had seen the species and I was thrilled,’ says Martin. ‘The frog obliged by posing for the camera.’ Find out more about this and other species that thrive in far north Queensland’s remote McIlwraith Range, where much of the wildlife protected in KULLA National Park has stronger links to New Guinea than to the rest of the Australian mainland, when you join Martin on a journey to the Outer Limits, pp 12-17.
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32 Biodiversity vs bauxite: conservation at a snail’s pace By John Stanisic Rare snails may not capture the global imagination, but surely the name of world renowned wildlife advocate Steve Irwin should help protect this Australian reservoir of biodiversity.
36 Best foot forward By Darryl Jones Charley collected the debris, Whimpey collected the data. What a team to help conserve malleefowl and understand global populations of megapodes.
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BY S A R E N S TA R B R I D G E
From the Editor
Journeys that connect Photo © Steve G.Wilson
Water, an elemental connection, has drawn these flock pigeons as nomadic visitors to tthe rain-rejuvenated landscape around Bedourie in Q Queensland.
he big news in Australia recently, apart from Jessica Watson’s remarkable voyage and the usual politics and finances, was RAIN. Drought-breaking downpours, especially in arid inland regions, fed precious water to Lake Eyre and even into the Murray-Darling system.
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Floods can be dangerous and are definitely inconvenient, isolating towns and properties, but for wildlife this is a boom time, and Steve G. Wilson takes us to an outback frontline in Longreach. Leave your gumboots and Driza-Bones in the closet and join Steve on a visual and informative journey into an arid region that knows how to use this unpredictable gift. Far north Queenslander Martin Cohen, who compiles our NatureWatch section and operates his own wildlife business, had always wanted to visit the McIlwraith Range of Cape York Peninsula. His report on that remote area, with wildlife links owing so much to historical connections with New Guinea, reminds us how the boundaries of global connections change over millennia. We are technologically enabled to travel and communicate at impressive speeds across our planet, but that doesn’t mean the Age of Exploration is over. Martin Pepper, a biologist based in the US, discovered Australia in 2008 by volunteering to work with several wildlife projects and research programs.
John Stanisic, who has contributed many articles to this magazine on invertebrates, the ‘other’ 99 percent of biodiversity, reports on the many attributes of the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve on Cape York. You don’t expect everyone to get excited about snails, but even with a globally recognised name, the rich and diverse communities of this reserve are under threat. At an international conference of megapode scientists in western Victoria, Darryl Jones met ‘Whimpey’ Reichelt and discovered that not only do they share an interest in moundbuilding birds, but Whimpey has collected a mine of data – and Darryl knows a good data miner. Finally, in an issue themed around Global Connections, you may well wonder, where are the migratory species? They are here, but not in the feature articles. See Greg Czechura’s Scratchings & Rustlings and the book review of Invisible Connections for more reminders of how migratory shorebirds and others highlight the importance of global awareness and cooperation in achieving significant environmental goals for our planet.
SAREN STARBRIDGE, editor
SWAMP by Gary Clark
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AUTUMN 2010 Disasters Koala nutrition Venomous snakes
SUMMER 2009 Backyard diversity Cassowaries Stock routes
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WINTER 2009 On the road Reptiles, gliders, eco-tourism
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SUMMER 2008 Handling heat Sea turtles Tropical rainforests
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AUTUMN 2008 Changes & cycles Best birdwatching Vale Brian Clouston
SUMMER 2007 Colour Rare fish, frogs and seahorses
SPRING 2007 New South Wales Living with fire Red centre reptiles
WINTER 2007 Shared environments Gliders Fairy possums
AUTUMN 2007 Protected places Quolls Grampian fires
SUMMER 2006 Wild gardens Python power WA wildflowers
SPRING 2006 South Australia Borneo connection Steve Irwin
WINTER 2006 Cyclone Larry City frogs Sponge sex
AUTUMN 2006 Northern hairynosed wombat Undergrowth
SUMMER 2005 Islands: Lord Howe, Rottnest, Tiri. Blonde possums
SPRING 2005 Northern Territory Urban turtles Cane toads
WINTER 2005 Owl caves Bushfires Numbats
AUTUMN 2005 Frogs, bats and wildlife hideouts Great Barrier Reef
SUMMER 2004 Reptiles Flying Foxes Woodford Wildlife
SPRING 2004 Victoria revealed WildWatch Antarctic ghosts
WINTER 2004 Fish – fresh or salty Sharks Seahorses
AUTUMN 2004 Kids & nature Lamington Myna problems
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WINTER 2003 Nature tourism Fraser Island Penguins
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WITH TRISH LEEHONG
WPSQ in Action
Strength from co-operation oowoomba, in south-east Queensland, is on an elevated plateau with mixed landscapes of remnant woodlands, rainforest, isolated vine forest, agricultural crops and grazing land. This mosaic supports a variety of raptors, including kites, harriers, goshawks, eagles, falcons, hobbies, kestrels and owls. Some of these birds occasionally come into care – owls or kestrels which have fed on poisoned mice, barn owls or wedge-tailed eagles struck by road traffic.
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Raptors have to be in top condition to survive in the wild. They cannot be released without a full complement of feathers, as missing or damaged feathers create noise in flight and a silent approach is crucial to a raptor’s hunting success. Alerted by feather noise, the prey escapes and the raptor may die of starvation. Strength is also critical and a bird can suffer muscle atrophy within weeks from lack of exercise. When a magnificent wedge-tailed eagle came into care and had to be housed temporarily in a chook pen, the largest empty enclosure available at the time, WPSQ’s Toowoomba branch realised this was not a sustainable situation and set to work to improve facilities. After three years of community effort, including fund-raising sausage sizzles and wildlife presentations, an in-kind grant from Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) and numerous donations, the branch recently launched its new raptor aviary. The construction, 20m by 8m by 5m, has a steel frame with recycled iron cladding for the hutch bay and heavy-grade knotless netting for the major part of the structure. The netting, attached in rails with tension rods and stretched tight like a trampoline, saw everyone pitching in with the builder – pulling with all their might while muttering and vowing never to attempt such a job again – to produce a great finish, taut enough for the birds to land on the netting without entangling their talons. The netting is also less abrasive on feathers than traditional steel wire. The aviary is large enough for birds to beat their wings, turn and execute downward and upward lifts to build up optimum muscle strength before release. The interior includes perches, swing, standing posts, a cairn of bush rock with a pool and a large sandstone rock for talon maintenance. The rock was moved into position with help of Gabriel, a young Clydesdale. It took three people, a crowbar and as much muscle as they could muster to get that rock onto the hauling sled and Gabriel strutted out like it was a Sunday walk. What a wonderful sight! The TRC nursery also provided a substantial number of established trees and plants for the project. Two wedge-tailed eagles in care were boxed in dark crates overnight for movement to the new aviary. After well-wishers had inspected the facility, they were asked to move further up the mountain to a safer outlook. The crates were moved in and the birds, which had been held in a 9m aviary, were released. How would they react? After the first fly out, they
Photo © Loren Jarvis
A juvenile wedge-tailed eagle in care stretches out in the new aviary with space to recover and regain the strength it will need to survive in the wild.
moved from perch to perch, tried out the swing and stood tall on the posts, unruffling and shaking their feathers while looking down and around the entire enclosure. It was a spectacular sight, absolutely breathtaking. Other raptor species require even more space for rehabilitation and the branch hopes to include a 60m aviary in the future. However, thanks to terrific community support, this is an excellent start to providing much needed facilities in the region. TRISH LEEHONG is the founding secretary and current president of WPSQ’s Toowoomba branch. A wildlife carer of 20 years’ experience, she recently gained a BAppSc in Animal Studies with Honours in echidna research at the University of Queensland. Birds of prey presently in care are three wedge-tailed eagles, two boobook owls and a black falcon.
WPSQ branches represent community interests at local, state and national levels. WPSQ has an active role in the community consultation process on state-wide legislation, strategies and planning decisions. To join, visit the WPSQ website: www.wildlife.org.au www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 5
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B Y M A R K T. R I G B Y
Winter Skies
Global Endeavours
Photo © NASA
Backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, the International Space Station was photographed by a crew member on space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle had undocked on 19 February, 2010.
he Space Age has brought about a host of global connections in just over half a century. Many of us now communicate electronically with friends and relatives around the planet and we think nothing of watching live events via communications satellites. Global Positioning System satellites can pinpoint our location within a few metres anywhere on Earth. As the 1960s Disney song goes: ‘It’s a small world after all.’
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Just how small our world really is did not hit home until the first humans gazed upon our planet from the Apollo 8 spacecraft on its way to orbit our moon in December 1968. The crew returned with stunning photographs of our beautiful, but finite and fragile, oasis floating in the black ocean of space. However, our planet had been ‘shrinking’ for centuries before then as explorers pushed the boundaries of the known world and astronomers began the long journey to appreciating the size of the cosmos. In 1768, James Cook set off to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun in 1769. Collective global observations of the transit were seen as a way to determine our distance from the Sun and consequently fathom the vast scale of the Solar System with our Earth being seen as a mere speck in space. Cook’s voyage aboard the ship Endeavour led to the selection of Australia for a new colony, while the Endeavour’s modern namesake, the US space shuttle Endeavour, has been crucial to the orbital assembly and servicing of an orbiting ‘colony’ – the International Space Station (ISS). The orbital assembly of the ISS began in 1998 and since November 2000, there has been a permanent human presence aboard the space station. Endeavour is now destined to be the last space shuttle to visit the orbital outpost late this year. The facility has grown to the size of a football field with a mass of nearly 400 tonnes, including pressurised living
quarters, laboratories, supporting trusses, solar panels, rocket engines and spacecraft docking ports. It is planned to house astronauts and cosmonauts conducting science experiments, studying human reactions to long-duration stays in space, and observing our planet until at least 2020 and perhaps 2030. The ISS assembly has involved the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil and 11 nations within the European Space Agency. As the space station orbits at an altitude of about 350km, it flies over not just every one of those countries, but over all the planet between 51.6º north and south of the equator – that’s 85 percent of the Earth’s surface. About 95 percent of the world’s population is overflown and can directly observe the human outpost in space at some time. The International Space Station can sometimes be comparable to Venus in brightness. To find out sighting times for any location, visit the web site (www.heavens-above.com). SIGNIFICANT EVENTS Full Moon dates
July 26, August 25 and September 23
August 13
The crescent Moon appears just to the left of Venus, Mars and Saturn in the west early in the evening.
September 11
Venus, Mars and the crescent Moon form a triangle in the west with the star Spica just below the Moon in the early evening.
MARK T. RIGBY is President of the Australasian Planetarium Society and Curator of the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium in Brisbane. For planetarium visiting information, please phone (07) 3403-2578 or visit www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planetarium
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NEWS IN BRIEF
T o MARyour wind from Y B out life, ED
PIL wild look alia. COMoliday, or RE to see und Austr
h ro HE your DW ers a Plan OW AN re watch H natu
NEW SOUTH WALES
E LIF E D L WI HOM AT AND ON I CT A IN
Roll out the barrel – fine wines meet sturdy marsupials in the Hunter Valley region.
QUEENSLAND
N OHE – IN C w
NEW SOUTH WA WALES LES ES
FULL STORIES INSIDE
Aptly named Point Lookout offers some of the best land-based whale-watching in Queensland.
NORTHERN TERRITORY ORY RY
Yengo National Park Frilled lizards are handsome, fast, elusive and sometimes, according to local lore, they are also hair-raising.
Sydney
Admire the tree-studded skyline during the day, but remember to glance down for evidence of wombats, such as their distinctive, cube-shaped scats. The wombats spend the day in underground burrows – up to 30m long and several metres deep – sleeping in well-insulated comfort, neither too hot in summer nor too cold in winter. WHERE TO SEE These shy, stocky creatures often amble out at dusk around the edges of Yengo National Park to feed in open grassland and may be seen in cooler weather grazing alongside horses on rural properties.
THANK YOU TO OUR NATUREWATCH CONTRIBUTORS NSW Julia Cooper, Wild about Australia VIC Trevor Pescott TAS Alan Barton NT Michael Barritt, Senior Ranger, Department of Environment and the Arts, NT WA Dr Sarah Legge, National Conservation & Science Manager, Australian Wildlife Conservancy ACT Kate Hodges QLD Andrea Dobbyn (QLD DERM) SA Damian Morrant
ACT
That spectacular white raptor could be a grey goshawk, a special and endangered resident of Tasmanian forests.
TASMANIA
Part of the Greater Blue Mountain World Heritage Area, Yengo protects a massive area of wilderness between Wiseman’s Ferry and the Hunter Valley, with stunning walks through eucalypt forest and coastal heath. This is one of the only places in New South Wales where north coast, central coast, highland and western species are found in proximity.
Why is this frog laughing? Perhaps because its skin has antibiotic properties in winter.
It’s arias amongst the mountain ashes when male superb lyrebirds begin pouring out their winter songs.
VICTORIA
The Hunter Valley, renowned for world-class vineyards, is on the doorstep of Yengo National Park. Combine the taste of superb, barrel-fermented vintages with glimpses of the somewhat barrel-shaped common wombat.
The seeding cycles of grasses support a diverse range of savanna seedeaters, including the stunning Gouldian finch.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA IA
Vintage wombats
WESTERN AUSTRALIA LIA A
Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
The common wombat, which can vary in colour from dark chocolate to pale sand, is still common in the eucalypt forests surrounding the vineyards of the Hunter Valley.
Known for its spectacular fishing techniques, the osprey also puts on thrilling aerial winter courtship displays.
www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 7
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E LIF E LD WI HOM AT AND ON TI AC IN
QUEENSLAND Stradbroke Island Brisbane
Well-grounded whale-watching Fancy a spot of whale-watching, but worried about sea-sickness? Point Lookout’s Gorge Walk on Stradbroke Island features great vantage points. More southern humpback whales pass close to this island than any other place on Australia’s east coast as they head north in winter and south in spring. June is usually the best month, but any time from late May to October should be rewarding. On calm winter days, look south to the Gold Coast for the white ‘blow’ from approaching pods 20 to 30 minutes away. By late afternoon, silvery paths thread across the sea: ‘footprints’ of each pod. Pods of up to eight whales are becoming more common.
Binoculars are recommended but lucky viewers may spot the occasional single whale or pair close to Straddie’s rocks. Mums with early calves will slip by quietly, while subadults often put on a show, slapping and breaching for half an hour or more. The more you go, the more
you’ll notice different behaviours. Other land-based whale-watching sites near south-east Queensland include Cape Moreton on Moreton Island, Point Danger and Burleigh Head on the Gold Coast, and Cape Byron just over the NSW border.
DID YOU KNOW? An estimated 12,000+ southern humpbacks make up the Eastern Australia population, with the number thought to be increasing at about 10 percent per year. Their annual migration takes them from Antarctica to the warm waters of the Great Barrier Reef. GETTING THERE ‘Straddie’, a beautiful sand island with rocky outcrops, is a 30-minute water taxi ride from Cleveland on Brisbane’s bayside. Disembark at Dunwich and catch a bus or cab for a scenic 20-minute drive to Point Lookout – or take a vehicle ferry and drive yourself. As the sea surges against Point Lookout, a blow-hole makes a fair imitation of a whale, giving new visitors quite a shock. While waiting for the next pod to cruise past, look out for leaping eagle rays, silvery bait-balls, dolphins surfing the waves, and Brahminy kites soaring past at eye level. Keep a tight hold on kids near cliff edges. Winter sunsets are magnificent; time your return ferry trip for sunset views over Moreton Bay.
Photo © Andrea Dobbyn
Above right: Time your travel to include a winter sunset over Straddie. Right: The more you watch, the more whale behaviours you are likely to see. Photo © DERM
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NORTHERN TERRITORY
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Photo © Michael Barritt
ACT
Photo © Steve Murphy
Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
LA IT UG O H FF
Filled lizards use their frill as a ‘do not disturb’ warning.
Rare in the wild, the Gouldian finch is one of Australia’s most colourful birds.
Known for its maniacal cal al cackle cackle, e L. peronii changes the chemistryy of its skin in winter. ter.
Dragon attitudes
Grass rhythms
Winterr skin
Monsoonal summer rains on the northern Australia savannahs stimulate a massive pulse of germination, growth and reproduction. However, different grass species follow different schedules of flowering and seedsetting. Seed-eaters exploit this asynchrony by shifting between species over summer.
It’s also known as the he emerald spotted treefrog (Litoria ia peronii), i but if you’re near a creek on a spring or summer night in southoutheastern Australia, and hear the high-pitched and long, drawn-out rattle of this little treefrog you’ll understand why it is also known as the maniacal cackle frog.
Winter in the Top End – which locals call the dry season – is not the greatest time of year to spot a frilled lizard but, with a keen eye, you may be lucky. During the dry season, these large dragons spend most of their time on the trunks of eucalypt trees. With their keen eyesight, they are likely to notice your approach and move slowly around to the other side of the tree. The best spotters either notice this movement or catch a glimpse of the lizard’s legs sticking out from behind the trunk. When approached, the reptiles will usually either race off immediately on their back legs or display their magnificent frill. Frilled lizards are aggressive hunters, feeding mainly on insects and other arthropods, but their diet can include small lizards and also frogs. Like many other reptiles, they may be at risk from the toxins of introduced cane toads that have spread to the Territory.
As the wet season winds up in April, so do the grasses. They shut down seed production and hay off quickly to wait out the dry winter months. This doesn’t signal famine for seedeating animals, because a few grasses (especially native sorghum) produce enormous quantities of seed during the wet season. Their seed sits on the ground over the winter, providing a convenient larder. Changes to fire patterns across the tropical savannah in the past few decades, plus the introduction of large, grazing herbivores, have disrupted this chain of seed availability, causing serious declines in species such as the Gouldian finch.
Often locally common in wet and dry forests and open woodlands with streams anddams, they can be found during the day under bark or under large fallen logs long distances from water. Their colour varies from cream to grey or dark brown, depending on time of day, temperature, and how the frog is feeling. The skin is smooth and some frogs have numerous small emerald green spots. It seems that more spots means older individuals. Their thighs and groin are brightly mottled black and yellow and if the frog is not laughing maniacally, the most distinguishing feature is an obviously cross-shaped pupil.
DID YOU KNOW?
DID YOU KNOW?
DID YOU KNOW?
For thousands of years, local Aboriginal people have hunted this dragon for food. They also heat up the frill or burn it to ashes and use it as a restorer to help their hair grow strongly!
Mornington and Marion Downs Sanctuaries are part of the AWC (www.australianwildlife.org.au) estate, protecting more than 600,000ha of tropical savannahs in the central Kimberley, and are home to one of the largest remaining wild populations of Gouldian finches.
Amphibian skin is rich in chemicals such as peptides that assist in predator and disease defence. It was thought that the presence of these peptides remained constant year round, but the skin of the maniacal cackle frog has antibiotic skin peptides only in winter.
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Blackwood Forest
E LIF E LD WI HOM AT AND ON TI AC IN
Macquarie Harbour
Mount Field
TASMANIA
Hobart Bruny Island
The Ghost that Flies Although the grey goshawk is generally, as the name suggests, grey, it also has a pure white form, or morph, sometimes known as the white goshawk. In Tasmania, the species occurs only in the white morph. Due to low densities – fewer than 110 breeding pairs – and limited breeding distribution, the species is listed as endangered in the state. Their preferred habitat is heavily treed areas such as rainforests and very dense, tall eucalypt forest. However, with a steady supply of chickens, farmland can also be a favourite haunt. The birds will perch fearlessly on the netted sides of chicken coops. A high proportion of the core habitat on which the goshawk relies is in unprotected areas. Therefore, non-government organisations dedicated to buying and managing land for its wildlife values are vital to the continued survival of this magnificent bird of prey.
WHERE TO FIND Breeding densities are greatest in blackwood swamps and riparian blackwood forest in the north-west. Other breeding areas are in the north-east, the south-east (including wet parts of Bruny Island), the Mount Field area, the northern side of the Western Tiers, south of Macquarie Harbour and in coastal forest between Macquarie Harbour and the Pieman River.
Melbourne
VICTORIA
Photo © Christo Baars, Tasmanian DPIPWE
The grey goshawk, an endangered species in Tasmania, occurs there only in its ghostly white morph.
Port Fa
Melbourne
Opera in the forest
Dandenong Ranges
To stand beneath mist-shrouded mountain ash trees at dawn and listen to the incredible song of the male lyrebird is an unforgettable experience. He is among the world’s best bird mimics, adding the voices of other forest inhabitants to his own song as he melds a raucous kookaburra duet with the sound of a flock of rosellas in flight and the soft calls of the large-billed scrubwren. The female, also an accomplished songstress, is otherwise engaged. As a winter nester, she will be in a bulky, domed nest incubating her single egg, then raising the nestling through the coldest part of the year.
IN DIV M TH A IS E T
Photo © Trevor Pescott
A male superb lyrebird belts out a ballad combining bining an astonishing array of mimicry.
WHERE TO HEAR Sherbrooke Forest, in the Dandenong Ranges National Park, 42km north-east of Melbourne on the city’s eastern outskirts, is one of the best-known places to meet the superb lyrebird and mid-winter is the best time to visit the forest to hear this wonderful songster in full voice. Take the Mt Dandenong Tourist Road or Monbulk Road.
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SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Yorke Peninsula
Adelaide
Eyre Peninsula Kangaroo Island
Stunt pilots with site loyalties An osprey glides over its fishing grounds in search of prey.
Photo © Damian Morrant
Along the South Australian coast in winter, ospreys engage in courtship flights which would turn any stunt pilot green with envy. Ospreys are medium-sized birds of prey found along much of coastal Australia and in many countries around the world. These graceful birds have white heads and bodies, brown wings and a dark brown mark running from the back of the neck to the eye. Females are distinguished from males by their larger size and brown-streaked ‘necklace’. Ospreys often return to their large nests of sticks and seaweed over many generations. In 1853, a shipwrecked passenger drew a sketch of the place where his ship ran aground at D’Estree Bay on Kangaroo Island. The sketch shows an osprey nest on the cliffs above. More than 150 years later, there is still an osprey nest in the same location. Ospreys are listed as endangered in South Australia, with only 52 breeding pairs estimated in a 2005 survey.
WHERE TO SEE You can watch ospreys from a number of locations along the South Australian coast, including Innes National Park on the Yorke Peninsula, Lincoln and Coffin Bay National Parks on the Eyre Peninsula and Seal Bay Conservation Park on Kangaroo Island. Ospreys may abandon their nests if they are disturbed by humans, so if you are lucky enough to locate a nest, it is best to view it from a distance through binoculars.
Rare glimpse The eastern regent parrot (Polytelis anthopeplus monarchoides) occupies an area along the Murray River encompassing three states. In the South Australian section over the past century, their numbers have declined to just 400 pairs. These parrots breed in river red gum hollows in colonies of up to 40 pairs. In the non-breeding season they form flocks and wander around the mallee areas north and south of the river. Right: Regent parrot at nest. Photo © Rod Bradtke
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STORY BY MARTIN COHEN; PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARTIN COHEN AND JULIA COOPER
Outer limits: wildlife of Cape York Peninsula Where to see New Guinea wildlife without leaving the Australian continent – and delight in many other biodiversity bonuses. Museum in search of the McIlwraith leaf-tailed gecko (Orraya occultus), a rarely seen gecko that only lives in a restricted rocky habitat, deep in the middle of this mountainous rainforest.
ne of my dream destinations has been the rainforests of the McIlwraith Range on Cape York Peninsula – the far upper right corner on the map of Australia. Recently, the dream has come true not once, but twice. Does it get any better?
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The three day adventure involved a long hike through very difficult terrain to reach a narrow sand spit on the bank of a beautiful freshwater creek complete with huge, mossy, granite rocks – perfect habitat for the gecko – and a picture postcard view of the spectacular rainforest canopy. The trip was a great success and a highlight of my professional life – but created some tension at home when I returned boasting about the wonderful wildlife and scenery.
Reaching the dream An ice age approximately 12,000 years ago lowered sea levels and increased connectivity between New Guinea and Cape York Peninsula across the Torres Strait islands. Now, semisurrounded by sea with a dry savannah barrier along the southern boundary, the peninsula and McIlwraith Range rainforests support a mixture of endemic and more widespread species – Australian species at their most northerly distribution limit and New Guinea species at their most southerly limit. For example, the two species of cuscus, the common spotted (Spilocuscus maculatus) and southern common (Phalanger intercastellanus) are common in New Guinea but are also both found within the McIlwraith Range and in other rainforest areas on northern Cape York Peninsula. However, they do not occur within the wet tropics rainforest just a few hundred kilometres to the south. In 2008 I was fortunate enough to work
Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
On a night out spotlighting for frogs and reptiles, the first sighting was a Cape York melomys.
on contract for the Queensland state government to develop a research plan for a new addition to the national park estate: KULLA (McIlwraith Range) National Park (see box on p 12). My first task was to lead a once-ina-lifetime trip to this remote and beautiful part of Cape York. With the kind permission of the KULLA Land Trust, I accompanied young traditional owners and staff from the Queensland
As luck would have it, I was asked by tadpole researcher and expert Marion Anstis to help organise and lead a trip into the McIlwraith Range, again with the kind permission and support of the KULLA Land Trust, in October 2009, to search for two species of endemic frogs and describe their eggs and tadpoles. Fortunately for our domestic tranquility, my partner Julia Cooper joined us on this expedition.
Camping in paradise The road into the McIlwraith Range, already long and slow, was blocked by numerous tree falls from Cyclone Monica in 2005. To reach the heart of
Opposite page: The fringed treefrog was a target species for the research expedition into the McIlwraith Range.
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KULLA– land trust and national park In August 2008, the Queensland premier announced the formation of the KULLA (McIlwraith Range) National Park. KULLA is an acronym for the Kaanju, Umpila, Lamalama and Ayapathu people, four indigenous groups with historical connections to the area. KULLA National Park covers almost 160,000ha of the McIlwraith Range, a chain of low mountains lying parallel to the east coast of Cape York Peninsula and extending about 80km north to south. The national park encompasses a diversity of landscapes, including rugged mountains, steep escarpments, gorges, waterfalls, clear mountain streams, tall tropical rainforest, more than half Cape York Peninsula’s tall riverine rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest, eucalyptus and Melaleuca viridiflora woodland, paperbark forests and large, undisturbed stands of hoop forest. It helps protect 16 endemic plant and 56 endemic animal species.
Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
An Indigenous Management Agreement between the KULLA Land Trust and the Queensland Department of Environment and Natural Resources was developed for joint management of the park. This agreement, which recognises the fundamental connection between indigenous people and the land, will provide a platform for the employment and training of indigenous rangers and provide a key mechanism for the land trust to protect indigenous cultural heritage.
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the rainforest, we had to hike. We spent the first day and night exploring and searching for frogs and tadpoles, soon locating the target species: long-snouted frog (Litoria longirostris) and fringed treefrog (L. eucnemis). Marion’s tadpole research was under way. Several iconic bird species are endemic to the rainforest sections of Cape York, attracting bird enthusiasts from all over the world. Just before daylight at our isolated camp site at the headwaters of the rocky creek we awoke to the loud but mellow, whip-like call of the magnificent riflebird (Ptilorus magnificus), one of two bird of paradise species in the area. Trumpet manucode (Manucodia keraudrenii) is the other. What a fantastic wake-up. The skies also echoed to the harsh, rolling screech of the beautifully coloured eclectus parrots (Eclectus roratus) and piercing, metallic call of red-cheeked parrots (Geoffroyus geoffroyi). Dusk presented another wildlife treat. While standing on large granite boulders in the middle of the rainforest creek in the heart of the park, we witnessed thousands of microbats swoop down under the canopy, using the creek as a flight path. Remaining perfectly still, we allowed these bats to brush past us so closely that we could hear faint echolocation squeaks. Judging by the different shapes and sizes, there were several species, although we could not clearly identify them. Once it was fully dark we began walking or climbing over the big boulders in search of geckos and frogs. Difficult enough in daylight, this is even more challenging at night, and our progress was slow. Our first wildlife encounter wasn’t a frog or reptile but a small mammal, the Cape York melomys (Melomys capensis). We watched it scamper over rocks and fallen tree branches before scuttling away into the dense rainforest undergrowth.
Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
Rare encounters Geckos clung to vertical rock faces, waiting to ambush unsuspecting prey. The beautifully marked ring-tailed geckos (Cyrtodactylus tuberculatus) were quite common but finding the endemic McIlwraith gecko was a highlight.
Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
During my previous visit, I had also seen long-snouted frogs on the vertical rock faces over water, apparently protecting long, thin egg masses. On closer inspection, I could see the eggs had developed into tadpoles. This trait, common in many frog species throughout the Asia–Pacific region, has rarely been recorded in Australia. We looked for this behaviour again and after Julia spotted several frogs in a very small opening in the rocks, I squeezed into the hole. Sure enough, right in front of me was one of these captivating frogs guarding tadpoles still enclosed by their egg mass. The other frog restricted to a few locations on Cape York, the fringed tree frog, was quite common, especially along the smaller creeks and streams. These frogs live throughout New Guinea and are another species that has a southern range extension into northern Australia. Many of these frogs had spectacular markings and while they were not breeding, it was a treat to see so many.
Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
Above: Waking to the call of a magnificent riflebird is an experience to attract bird enthusiasts from around the world. Top: Well-camouflaged, with a restricted and remote distribution, the McIlwraith leaf-tailed gecko is a challenge to spot. Facing page: The headwaters of a rocky rainforest creek afford spectacular habitat for hardy campers and rare geckos.
The spectacular and elusive green python (Morelia viridis), common throughout New Guinea, is found in Australia only in the McIlwraith Range or Iron Range. I had seen several on www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 15
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Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
The green python is a vivid reminder of the close wildlife links between New Guinea and northern Cape York.
Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
The agile and beautifully patterned ring-tailed gecko moves easily over rough surfaces.
Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
Like many other Cape York species, the common cuscus is found nowhere else on the Australian mainland.
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Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
Guarded by an adult, long-snouted frog tadpoles develop in the relative safety of an egg mass hidden in a rocky crevice.
previous trips to Iron Range, but the one we finally stumbled across, low down next to a small creek, was Julia’s first wild sighting – a suitably thrilling event. These relatively small, placid, iridescent green pythons, with white spots and markings, are successful ambush predators and rest on a branch or vine, bodies looped in a distinctive coil, waiting for potential prey to pass by. The newly designated KULLA National Park is a region of great beauty, rich biodiversity and huge potential. In co-operation with the traditional owners and the KULLA Land Trust, anyone with an adventurous spirit may soon be able get into some of these remote areas and witness this fantastic region first-hand. Photo © wildaboutaustralia.com
Rainforest canopy and mossy boulders shelter a wealth of biodiversity in KULLA National Park.
DR MARTIN COHEN has worked as a zoologist and wildlife commentator on Australia’s tropics for more than 20 years. He has researched and presented wildlife information on television and radio, authored several wildlife books and is the new compiler of WAM’s NatureWatch section. Now based in Cairns, Martin and his partner Julia Cooper run their own wildlife education and interpretation business Wild about Australia (www.wildaboutaustralia.com).
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STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE G. WILSON
Sieze the rains
Photo © Steve G. Wilson
Budgerigars are ‘seed nomads’, following the rush of rapid plant growth and seeking out nearby hollows to breed while food is plentiful.
Plants and animals in arid regions have only rare windows of opportunity to breed and proliferate. One of those windows opened early this year in outback Queensland. s with all species in nature there is a timeless drive to thrive and maintain vigorous populations. In arid landscapes, conditions necessary to meet this challenge run on boom-and-bust cycles. Typically, the arid zone sees extremes of climate: long spells of heat, excessive dry conditions, periodic dust storms – and erratic wet weather events, such as the record-breaking late summer rains of 2009-10 in Queensland.
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Out of mud After many years of no rains or flooding, how do arid zone wetlands and waterways teem with life so quickly after they fill up? The answer is mud. As a moisture-launched boom fades, ephemeral wetlands and waterholes go from lush to dry very quickly. Many species burrow or deposit eggs and larvae in the mud. In the next flood 18 | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | Winter 2010
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Photo © Steve G. Wilson
Photo © Steve G. Wilson
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Photo © Steve G. Wilson
A: Aquatic invertebrates and fish fuel a waterbird feeding frenzy in the flooded Diamantina. B: Freshwater crabs are quick to emerge as floods activate eggs and larvae deposited in a previous wet season. C: A cane grass dragon is alert and ready to capture insects attracted to new blooms and fresh greenery.
event, freshwater crabs (Holthuisana transversa) and filterfeeding freshwater mussels (Velesunio sp) erupt from the mud in huge numbers. They feed quickly to build condition and are also keen to reproduce. A flush of urgency after long dormancy characterises many species and generates a rich freshwater ‘plankton’ that emerges from the mud to underpin many food chains across the system. Although rain and flood events can occur at any time, it is in the spring-summer season that the systems reach their peak activity. High levels of UV radiation provide optimum growth conditions; moisture percolates deep below the soil surface, replenishing trees and other plants.
Flush with flowers In a mass of colour, arid zone plants flower and attract a proliferation of insects: notably bees, which transfer pollen
and assist in plant reproduction, and also a suite of beetles, moths and butterflies that produce larvae very eager to feed on the fresh new growth. The diverse Swainsona genus, characterised by richly colourful flowers, is synonymous with arid regions. Around Windorah, in the heart of Queensland’s Channel Country yellow-keeled swainsona (Swainsona flavicarinata), with its bold purple flowers and subtle, yellowlined petals lures numerous insects. Broad-leaved parakeelya (Calandrinia balonensis), with its recharged succulent leaves and bright yellow and soft purple flowers, carpets a striking red sand dune landscape, complementing the brush-like blooms of pink mulla mulla (Ptilotus exaltatus). Bluebush pea (Crotalaria eremaea), a dune specialist that uses a default of dessicated, stalky stems, furry leaves, and deep roots to survive long periods of dry, is one of the first arid zone plants to respond to rain, with glorious, pastel blue leaves breaking www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 19
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Photo © Steve G. Wilson
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Photo © Steve G. Wilson
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Photo © Steve G. Wilson
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Photo © Steve G. Wilson
D: Spinifex pigeons drink at rocky pools refreshed by rain. E: A hawkmoth larva is part of the postrain proliferation of insects. F: Voracious eastern snapping frogs emerge from their burrows to eat almost anything, including frogs of their own and other species. G: In pursuit of bush cockroaches, the smooth knob-tailed gecko is a ferocious hunter.
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... HOW DO ARID ZONE WETLANDS AND WATERWAYS TEEM WITH LIFE SO QUICKLY AFTER THEY FILL UP?
Photo © Steve G. Wilson
Storm clouds bring breathtaking sunsets as well as drought-breaking rains.
through the sand, closely followed by attractive yellow flowers.
Alive with activity A large yellow-spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes) patrols the clumps of hard spinifex (Triodia basedowii). Its blue grey tongue flicks in and out, tasting the air for any prey items such as insects, small reptiles, birds and mammals. Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) chatter throughout the day, landing on spinifex clumps to feed on boom-cycle seed heads. Any available tree hollow has an attentive pair of budgies. These ‘seed nomads’ know they have only a short breeding window. Spinifex pigeons (Geophaps plumifera), with their distinctive, erect walking style, patrol the dune swales, bobbing for seeds. Central netted dragons (Ctenophorus nuchalis) perch on every available high point – a termite mound, a rock – soaking up solar power and keeping an eagle eye out for predators, rivals or prospective mates. Slight and cryptic canegrass dragons
(Diporiphora winneckei) survey the crowns of newly greened-up spinifex clumps for insects. In the thorny shrubs, their elongated bodies are perfectly camouflaged amongst the long spines. The surging activity continues into the night. A short, spotlighting wander through the dunes reveals a swarm of desert spadefoot toads (Notaden nichollsi) snapping up ants and termites. The ability of these frogs to survive long periods of dry by enveloping their bodies in a cocoon, reducing their metabolism to bare basics, and then emerge, feed, find a mate and breed is astounding. They typically change from tadpole to frog in less than a month – about the length of time many ephemeral wetlands last. The spotted marsh frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis), another species with excellent survival skills, waits out long dry spells by refuging in sandy areas and extracting moisture from the sand. The large and ominous eastern snapping frog (Cyclorana www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 21
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Photo © Steve G. Wilson
Photo © Steve G. Wilson
Above: Recharged shrubs carpet a red dune landscape. Above right: Pink mulla mulla bursts into brush-like blossoms. Top: A coolibah soaks in nutrientrich floodwaters.
Photo © Steve G. Wilson
novaehollandiae) is a classic burrowing frog that emerges after rain with a voracious appetite. Unrelentingly, it feeds on all and sundry, including its own species. Its tadpoles grow up to 100mm long, with ravenous appetites and a desperate need to metamorphose before their pools of water evaporate. Smooth knob-tailed geckos (Nephrurus levis) are out in force, running down bush cockroaches as they scuttle between spinifex tussocks.
Pageant of the waterways It is in the braided system of waterways and flood plains, which link and meander across outback Queensland on the way to Lake Eyre, that we see the full spectacle of rain-instigated productivity. Waterbirds in particular are a conspicuous element, often congregating at strategic points along rivers and channels to pick off travelling and spawning fish. One such strategic point is near Birdsville along the Diamantina River. In early 2010, fortunately, work took me to Birdsville. Late in the day, I headed out to a narrow stony section alive with flocks of waterbirds. Hundreds of birds worked the shallows: rufous night herons (Nycticorax caledonicus), intermediate egrets (Ardea intermedia) and great egrets (A. alba), little black 22 | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | Winter 2010
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Photo © Steve G. Wilson
A yellow-spotted monitor tastes the air in search of prey.
cormorants (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris), pied cormorants (P.varius) and great cormorants (P.carbo), glossy ibises (Plegadis falcinellus) and straw necked ibises (Threskiornis spinicollis). Mobs of Australian pelicans (Pelecanus conspicillatus) fished the deeper, slower-moving pools. Truly a remarkable sight. When I visited the same site eight weeks later, there was little activity – the waterway fish boom was over. Flock pigeons (Phaps histrionica), the great inland nomads, have the uncanny ability to arrive en masse at areas recently invigorated by good rain. A fuel stop in Bedourie saw me reaching for the camera when a flock of several thousand pigeons descended to feed on the rich herbage growing on the flood plain. One of nature’s great avian delights is the sight of masses of these striking birds in flight. They never stay long. They feed, rest, move to the next feeding ground and pause only to breed when conditions are optimum. Arid zone species use an amazing array of skills, adaptations
and savvy to survive and reproduce in often-hostile environments. They burrow, store water, go into torpor, aestivate, produce vivid colours to attract a mate or deceive an enemy – and these are just a few of many options available to a most remarkable suite of flora and fauna. To anyone naive in the ways of outback ecosystems, I invite you to come and visit, especially when the system is on hyperdrive. You will ‘feel’ nature’s urgency, and you won’t be disappointed. STEVE G. WILSON B App Sc, is a naturalist and Regional Field Operations Manager for Desert Channels Queensland Regional Natural Resource Management Group based in Longreach (www.dcq.org.au). In his work, he travels frequently through amazing landscapes and, in early 2010, was fortunate in witnessing exceptional rain and flood events in the central west region of the Queensland Lake Eyre Basin. www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 23
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Australian Adventure For anyone with an interest in natural history, discovering a new continent is an exhilarating experience. STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARTIN PEPPER
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Photo Š Martin Pepper
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er artin Pepp Photo © M
For a visiting biologist, Australian woodlands are full of discoveries, including voracious antechinuses intriguing discoveries (above) and gliding possums (left).
Photo © Martin Pepper
Above: Seals are a common sight along many of the world’s coastlines, but Kangaroo Island is one of the few places you can see Australasian fur seal pups.
ustralia grabbed my attention when, as a graduate student in the United States, I grappled with the works of American paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson and his research in the mid-1900s into evolution and trans-continental migration. A continent isolated from other major land masses ever since marsupials were the dominant mammals on Earth? This I had to see. Unlike the movement of continents, it didn’t take me millions of years, but still – it wasn’t until 2008 that I caught a flight to Perth and, camera in hand, started my journey.
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Up a gum tree How better for a biologist and ecologist to explore a ‘land of mystery’ than by working with people doing research in these fields? Add to that a strong interest and experience in camping, tree climbing and cameras – and I couldn’t have asked for a better match than Dr Melanie Lancaster and her research project for the University of Adelaide. Dr Lancaster’s study site is in the south-east of South Australia, in a landscape that was once temperate forests and woodlands but, since European settlement, has been fragmented into smaller remnants of bush surrounded by pine plantations and farmland. Setting live traps baited with peanut butter, honey and muesli to capture possums, sugar gliders, antechinuses and other small mammals, the project then uses genetics to explore how these natives cope with living in modified landscapes.
Previous page: Research into life cycles and territorial requirements will help support dolphin populations off the Western Australia coast.
‘Forest loss and fragmentation is not exclusive to Australia,’ Dr Lancaster explains. ‘It is a global threat to biodiversity. To conserve our forest fauna, we first need to understand how they use the pine plantations and farmland around their native bush homes. We compare genetic material among individuals to find out whether animals are able to move through pine and farmland to reach other patches of bush. If they can’t move, populations become isolated, mating between relatives (inbreeding) can occur and populations can lose the natural genetic variation that makes them able to adapt to environmental change and resist disease.’ After two years of climbing trees to capture common ringtail possums, Dr Lancaster’s research has found that possums living in small bush remnants far from other bush patches suffer more than possums living in large remnants. It appears that, for possums at least, size does matter! She has also found that grazing land – essentially, open paddocks – is more difficult for possums to move through than pine plantations. Once complete, her research will provide information for land managers and forestry corporations on how best to design plantation and farming landscapes to preserve Australia’s native marsupials.
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Photo © Jeff Wright
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Photo © Martin Pepper
Whether it’s brown pelicans diving in the Sea of Cortez (above) or an Australian pelican posing at Shark Bay (right), these remarkable birds have a worldwide appeal.
Photo © Martin Pepper
Forest fragmentation is a global problem. However, I was intrigued by differences between Australia’s array of forest-dwelling marsupials and small mammal communities in North America. My North American colleague Brian Jansen, biologist and instructor in mammalian evolution, had noted that, as a result of mammalian evolutionary history and vegetation, Australia has many more arboreal niches than North America and a diverse array of marsupials that have ‘special and strange habits’. Possums that can glide from tree to tree; tiny, voracious antechinuses that carry up to 10 babies with them while they forage; and possums that can hibernate in cold weather like North American grizzly bears? Too right! Australia’s marsupials are, indeed, remarkable.
Sea scapes Another of my passions is marine ecology. I had heard about PhD research based at Perth’s Murdoch University on managing bottlenose dolphins from south of Bunbury to north of Shark Bay. The research includes observing the complete lifecycle of dolphins (and other marine organisms) as they feed, play, mate, give birth, die – and survive a shark attack.
A baler off Rottnest Island may recall marine molluscs in many locations, yet the species is unique to the Western Australia coast.
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Photo © Martin Pepper
I offered to assist with genetics research but was soon drawing on other interests – mechanics, boat handling, above-and-below water photography and animal behaviour – to help out when needed as helmsman, data logger, photo logger, general repairer and research consultant. Depending on the research goals, most genetics research requires a sample of skin tissue for analysis. With some cetaceans that are eager to ride a boat’s bow wave, all you need is a dish-scrubbing pad on a stick to rub off enough skin for a sample. In southern Australia, the dolphins were harder to approach, so we used a biopsy gun with .22 calibre charges to get a small skin core. The process is carefully designed and monitored for minimal impact on the dolphins. From that assignment, I soon heard about another project with PhD candidate Holly Smith, who is investigating
behaviours and home ranges of bottlenose dolphins in Bunbury, Western Australia. We drove 20km transects, both north and south, noting which dolphins were hanging out with whom, what they were doing, what were the environmental conditions (water depth, temperature, clarity and sea state) and what major habitat use and ranging patterns could be determined from all the information gathered. Smith found that males generally have larger home ranges than females. However, some females have larger ranging patterns than other females. Depending on their reproductive status, such as nursing a dependent calf, some females have tiny home ranges in the estuary. Out of 50 dolphins identified in the estuary over three years, 17 mothers and some calves were never sighted on the other coastal transects. Some males return seasonally to the study area, probably for mating opportunities. Smith has seen dolphins chewing on blowfish and then leaping out of the water – behaviour that has been observed in Shark Bay as well. The contact with neurotoxins, she says, must be a
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Photo Š Martin Pepper
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bit like licking a cane toad. And then there are the relationships: preferential female-female and male-male associations and the use of sex for dominance in male social alliances. Also, the sad reality of approximately 40 percent natural calf mortality for these dolphins. A bonus of being out on the water with this project was the opportunity to observe not only dolphins but so much more marine wildlife. Most notable were the cormorants, which I filmed eating octopuses larger than their own heads. We saw a giant loggerhead turtle cut in half by the propeller of a tanker. A dolphin attacked by a shark survived the ordeal – sans dorsal fin. A chance encounter while out with my underwater camera showed that dolphins might work with giant stingrays in feeding through the sea grass beds. Like cattle egrets that hang out near the snout of a grazing cow waiting for surprised insects, the dolphins appeared to swim to the flanks of the stingray and wait for fingerlings scared out by the enormous shadow. We await further research to confirm this.
Last hop I had heard Kangaroo Island described as the Galapagos of Australia and was eager to see rare species such as the glossy black cockatoo and the Tammar wallaby as well as more common or widespread species such as koalas and echidnas. While on the island, I met up with Phyll and Tony Bartram, who run a DolphinWatch program that gets high school students out on the water learning ecology and conservation right where it happens. I had the privilege of working with the students as they developed their observation skills and used photo ID as an unobtrusive methodology to gather data. Back at school, they analysed and presented their latest discoveries. Fascinated as I was by Australia’s unique wildlife, I also noticed that coastal niches here host animals similar to those
Photo © Martin Pepper
On Kangaroo Island, ‘the Galapagos of Australia’, a Tammar wallaby enjoys a scratch.
I found in analogous niches across the globe. The southern I’ve baler is very similar to the giant conch in the Caribbean, sea b llions and seals abound, the schooling fish such as the ssnapper of the Atlantic act much like the bream in the Pacific aand the silly pelican can always swallow more than his belly ccan hold. FFrom my brief experiences and the differences and ssimilarities I observed, I can honestly say nothing has been aas electrifying as the discovery of all the beautiful wildlife aaround Australia. There is no other country with such sstunningly beautiful and starkly different biomes so close ttogether as the ‘land down unda’.
er artin Pepp Photo © M
Photo © Martin Pepper
Above: Dolphins may work with stingrays in feeding through beds. seagrass beds Left: Kangaroo Island hosts many species, including the South Australian subspecies of the glossy black-cockatoo.
M MARTIN PEPPER has been in the middle of humpbacks bubble n netting, chased by a grizzly bear, charged by a buffalo, struck at by a rattlesnake, electrocuted by a torpedo ray, bitten in the bum by a Californian sea lion and stranded on an iceberg. He is currently in the field collecting samples for his PhD project H aaround South America on a motorcycle while taking photos. When his sample collection is completed he will have circumnavigated and photographed all of the Earth’s continents. You can see his latest favourite photos on his website www.MartinPepperPhotography.com Many thanks to the researchers who helped Marty discover ‘the mystery continent’.
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Photo © John Stanisic
... THESE ARE BIODIVERSITY JEWELS IN AN OTHERWISE DRY, FIRE-PRONE LANDSCAPE ...
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B Y J O H N S TA N I S I C
Biodiversity vs bauxite: conservation at a snail’s pace
Its biodiversity credentials are impressive. Its name honours a globally recognised icon for Australian wildlife. Why is this reserve under threat?
he Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve (SIWR) was set up in 2006/2007 as part of the Australian federal government’s National Reserve System. The name honours the memory of the late Crocodile Hunter and Wildlife Warrior.
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Formerly known as Bertiehaugh Station, a cattle property dating from the famous, or infamous (depending on your reading of history), Jardine family, the reserve lies on the western Photo © John Stanisic side of Cape York, north of the bauxite mining town of Weipa. At its southern end, it fronts the Wenlock River; to the north, the Ducie River forms another natural boundary. The western section of the old station property is fenced as a reserve, while the eastern part is currently leased for the continued raising and grazing of cattle. Among the reserve’s many natural attributes are a set of perched springs, semi-evergreen vine forests and dry vine thickets. I say attributes because these are biodiversity jewels in an otherwise dry, fire-prone landscape dominated by Darwin stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta). Because of Cape York’s tropical location, popular expectations of the landscape are of lush, widespread rainforests. In reality, the landscape is dominated by dry eucalypt and melaleuca woodlands with rainforests occurring only as scattered isolates where topography, soils and moisture occur in suitable synergy. Rainforest communities tend to be more widespread on the eastern side of Cape York where rain-bearing, on-shore winds prevail. They are much rarer in the west. Nonetheless, wherever rainforest occurs, biodiversity is at its greatest. It is the conservation of these communities, in the face of a looming mining push, that is cause for concern.
A biodiversity mosaic at risk From a biodiversity perspective, the SIWR supports 35 different ecosystems in an area of 135,000ha. This mosaic of ecosystems provides habitat and refuge for at least 157 native bird species, 43 reptile, 19 amphibian, 20 mammal and 43 freshwater fish species – a total of 282 vertebrate species. This represents outstanding biodiversity on a national scale. And that does not take into account the invertebrates – the other 99 percent. Apart from its natural attributes, the reserve is promoted by the Irwins as a place of scientific discovery and information on biodiversity. Scientists have the opportunity to study a wide range of organisms and natural systems in the wild. And best of all, from a scientist’s perspective, there are no bench fees! Perhaps nothing exemplifies this research ethic better than the University of Queensland’s crocodile research program, which is based at the reserve. ‘There are lots of examples of areas that have been set aside for conservation but the unique thing about this is that Australia Zoo and the Irwins are committed to research, understanding and education,’ says the project’s lead investigator, Professor Craig Franklin of the University of Queensland. However the SIWR, even with its unique environmental and educational values, is currently set to face the full force of the mining juggernaut in its insatiable quest for ever more natural resources to exploit. This confrontation has all the hallmarks of an encounter between the irresistible force and the immovable object. But it also presents an opportunity for drawing a ‘line in the sand’ when it comes to putting the conservation of areas of environmental significance for future generations above the short-term interests of the mining industry.
Left: The white-lipped treefrog is one of 19 amphibian species found on the reserve. Left, above: The Wenlock River, nominated as one of the Queensland Wild Rivers, is home to more than 50 species of fish. Inset, above: On the survey, land snails such as Hadra barneyi were found clustered around moist springs.
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Grazing, fire and rainforests The development of cattle farming as a major pastoral industry on Cape York has had major impacts on the local natural environment. Firstly, just the sheer physical effects from trampling of ground cover and juvenile canopy species and secondly, from the spread of introduced pasture grasses and the associated altered ecology resulting from the accompanying fire regimes.
Photo © John Stanisic
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Nowhere are these past effects of fire more evident than on the SIWR. The woodland communities burn regularly and, in the current absence of cattle, are now largely dependent on fire for keeping the aggressive grasses in check. However, scattered among these are the island-like rainforest communities which are fire-sensitive and do not have the regenerative ability of their sclerophyllous cousins. Hot, perennial fires in the surrounding woodland will gradually reduce the perimeter of these rainforest patches by sequential burning of the outermost ring of trees, even in so-called fire-proof niches. Fire will also hinder a patch’s ability to expand outwards under suitable climatic conditions. The stark delimitation of rainforest from the surrounding woodland communities – particularly evident in areas just north of Weipa – bears silent witness to the role of fire in shaping contemporary vegetation patterns on the Cape and for that matter elsewhere in Australia. There is an urgent underlying need to develop fire management strategies which will mitigate the effects of fire on these rainforest communities. In the first instance, this could be as simple as providing a protective ring of fire breaks. However, the most significant environmental impacts may be yet to come. The expanding bauxite mining industry threatens to bring a whole new level of ecological disruption to this part of the Cape. Strip mining, associated with the extraction of bauxite, ‘takes few environmental prisoners’ and has the potential to alter irrevocably both the terrestrial ecology and hydrology of the region.
Photo © John Stanisic
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Springs and snails Of particular significance on the SIWR are the Perched Bauxite Springs, a series of eight previously undocumented perennial springs exclusively associated with the bauxite plateau that extends onto the reserve. These springs support rainforest-type communities which feature unusual floristic characteristics in terms of species composition and structure. They perform crucial ecological functions on both a local and landscape scale. They act as refuges and water sources for woodland wildlife species in an otherwise dry landscape during the heat and drought of the annual dry season. The presence of robust populations of spring- and rainforestdependent plant taxa indicates that the springs have also served as critical historical refugia during earlier drier climatic periods.
Photo © Robert Howard
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Examples of the range of biodiversity in the mosaic of ecosystems that comprise the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve include great bower birds (bower, A), brachychitons (B) and northern death adders (C).
Land snails are an exemplar group for highlighting the significance of the rainforest communities for biodiversity, including the moist spring environs on the SIWR. Ten species of land snail were recorded from the reserve in the survey conducted in September 2009. These land snails comprise all the species known to inhabit north-western Cape York, with the exception of a number of minute species that occur in the calcium-rich vine thickets on the western coastline. Significantly, the land snails collected on the SIWR were not randomly scattered across the landscape, but were clustered
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in the vine forests (locally known as Moaning Forest and Strangler Fig), drier vine thickets (Blue Tongue) and the moist areas around the springs (Bluebottle and Oasis were the two surveyed). In contrast, the woodland communities that dominate much of the reserve were largely devoid of snails. Fire is considered the main driving force behind these idiosyncratic distribution patterns. Fire will not only kill the snails, particularly juveniles, but also destroy a key component of their microhabitat – the fallen timber which provides essential shelter and important living space for the species. As representative invertebrates and proven bio-indicators the land snails identify the moist rainforest areas on the SIWR as significant for the conservation of most of the reserve’s yetto-be documented invertebrate biodiversity. At a broader scale, the land snails indicate that these mesic (wet-adapted) vegetation communities may also be important for conserving the most significant elements of the biodiversity of the Weipa Bioregional Province which includes the SIWR and most of western Cape York. Consequently, the destruction of all or any of these rainforest communities should be a matter of dire concern. The underlying invertebrate mantra is ‘biodiversity conservation means habitat conservation and habitat conservation means biodiversity conservations.’
Photo © John Stanisic
A pandanus in flower at Bluebottle Springs.
Mining lease concerns The bauxite plateau with which the perched springs are associated is currently under a bauxite mining lease application. Extensive strip mining and lowering of the landscape by 2–8m (depending on the depth of the ore) over much of the 12,300ha of the reserve proposed for mining would alter the hydrological characteristics of the bauxite plateau and the recharge capacity of the aquifer that feeds the springs. This mining activity would also change the chemical composition of the water supplying the springs – in particular, the acidity which appears to be a key environmental factor contributing to the remarkable biodiversity within the springs. A major concern is the loss of the stable supporting water discharge characteristics and changing chemical composition of the water which would result in the springs’ extinction and the subsequent loss of the species dependent on them. Besides their importance as moist refugia in a dry, fire-prone sea of eucalypt woodland, the springs also sustain connectivity with the surrounding broader landscape. This includes an aquatic and riparian link with the Wenlock River – a system of national ecological significance which has now been nominated as one of the Queensland Wild Rivers – and the associated bauxite plateau. The Wenlock River is home to more than 50 species of fish, including the critically endangered speartooth shark and the endangered freshwater sawfish. The springs and their associated streams also provide important hydrological flow into the Wenlock, contributing significantly to the river’s perennial characteristics during the dry season. Rehabilitation is constantly touted by the mining industry as some sort of universal panacea for assuaging environmental concerns. In reality, Queensland has few success stories in this regard. In a bioregion with highly variable annual rainfall and poor soils, rehabilitation appears to offer challenges of epic proportions. Then there is the question of how to rehabilitate alterations to the hydrology that currently supports much of the rainforest biome in the region.
Costs and losses As a consulting biodiversity scientist, I am not anti-mining. I always search for win-win scenarios where biodiversity outcomes and the economic benefits of a project line up side by side. Unfortunately, in some corporate boardrooms it is still the case that environmental issues are seen as minor hurdles to be circumnavigated at minimum expense and little real regard for the enormous hidden cost in biodiversity loss. During my 26-year tenure as curator of land snails at the Queensland Museum, I visited many parts of eastern Australia. The recurring image is of landscapes and biodiversity adversely and permanently affected by land clearing. I can only guess at what has been lost in the name of progress. Do we really want to continue on this road to environmental perdition? Mining leases and mining exploration can override most environmental legislation, even supposedly sacrosanct World Heritage. But there must be some areas, apart from World Heritage, that should not be mined no matter what the dollar cost. To my mind, the SIWR is one of these areas. Surely it is not too late to stand back, take a deep breath and reassess what is important in the greater scheme of humanity’s presence on this planet. The benefits of mining are shortterm. We pay the costs of environmental degradation for much longer. DR JOHN STANISIC is a consulting biodiversity scientist and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queensland Museum. At the invitation of Terri Irwin, he carried out a land snail survey on the SIWR in late 2009. This article draws on material from ‘Natural Values of the Perched Bauxite Springs: Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve, Cape York Peninsula’, B. Lyon & C. E. Franklin, 2009 (unpublished report to Department of Environment and Resource Management). www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 35
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BY DARRYL JONES
Photo © Jessica van der Waag
Unlike brush-turkeys, where the male is the sole mound-minder, male and female malleefowl both contribute to the mound-building effort in their harsh, arid habitat.
Best foot forward A 30-year obsession with what looks like a pile of rubbish yields a unique and immensely valuable database. ‘Keep up the good work Charlie,’ calls Whimpey. ‘See you again tomorrow.’ The bird takes not the slightest notice. Sprawled full-length along the far slope and oblivious to the frequent spray of hot sand, Ray ‘Whimpey’ Reichelt has carefully checked the digital reader attached to the temperature probe inserted months earlier into the base of the mound. He jots down the figure (34°C) in the ‘egg chamber’ column of his notebook and slowly crawls backwards to stand up nearby, watching the bird still raking sand. I am impressed at how comfortable bird and man appear to be with one another, but it’s hardly surprising. Long ago, these two learned to carry on in each other’s company. Whimpey has been visiting Charlie at his mound regularly for almost 30 years. It’s what they do – Whimpey checks the temperature of the mound, as well as that of the air and ground surface, records the shape of the mound and notes anything unusual (like the not-uncommon presence of
burrowing echidnas) and shares the latest cricket scores. Charlie continues with whatever he was doing. It is a quiet, quintessentially Australian relationship: no frills, unpretentious and loyal. It is also of immense scientific importance.
Hatching strategies To allow the development of the embryo within, eggs need a steady supply of warmth, as well as protection from weather and predators. Almost all birds provide the necessary conditions by building a nest – usually softened and well-insulated with feathers and grasses – and brood the eggs by sitting on the clutch. The bird’s body heat permeates the nest to the living core of each egg. It’s the epitome of a cosy, safe, stable and risk-free environment and an ideal place for a baby bird to start life. And then there are the megapodes. Although they closely resemble other Galliformes – the chickens, quails and pheasants that are their nearest
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Photo © Jessica van der Waag
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Photo © Ray Reichelt
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C
Photo © Ray Reichelt
A: The camouflage conferred by its mottled plumage umage wo would have helped this chick to survive its first six months. B: Mound-building may have originated in tropical jungle conditions, difficult to replicate in dry, sandy mallee country. C: It’s a tough world, and megapode chicks face it on their own.
relatives – megapodes do things differently when it comes to caring for their eggs. Instead of being deposited in a cosy nest, most megapode eggs are more-or-less abandoned at the bottom of a deep excavation in the middle of a huge pile of dirt and leaves. The female quickly treads down the warm, damp soil before leaving without a second glance. In terms of any parent-offspring bond, that was it! The hatchling eventually breaks through the shell after about 40 to 60 days and digs itself out of the mound – an exhausting task that may take several days. When it emerges, no adult is there to guide or protect it. From day one, it must learn about food and predators the hard way. This extraordinary process of reproduction, in which adults divest themselves of parental care in favour of making more eggs, is possible only because of their remarkable method of incubation. Somehow, the ancestors of today’s megapodes discovered that they could exploit sources of heat other than their bodies. For some, it was the sun warming the dark soil or sand, while others used the geothermal heat associated with volcanic areas. Both these heat sources are accessed by the birds digging either shallow holes or tunnels into the substrate. However, the most common heat supply used by megapodes is that produced by the millions of micro-
organisms present in all leaf litter. By piling massive amounts of damp soil and organic matter into a heap, these birds construct a heat generator that can be carefully managed as an incubator for eggs. These megapodes we call, for obvious reasons, ‘mound-builders’. We think it very likely that mound-building originated in the steamy jungles of Papua New Guinea, still the place with the largest number of megapode species. It is often so hot and humid that there is little danger of eggs cooling or drying too much, and a ground-nesting galliform could safely leave its eggs unattended for a while – probably covering them with nearby leaves to hide them from predators. Perhaps that was how the behaviour started. In any case, once mound-building caught on, it was a technique that could be tried out in all sorts of environments, provided there was a good supply of leaf litter and rainfall. Certainly, mound-building birds spread in all directions, including south into the vast and very different country of Australia. Crouching in the dust under the meagre shade of a mallee tree near the Little Desert region of inland Victoria, I find it hard to believe that the mound-builder I am watching is a close relative of species living in tropical jungles. Yet this malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) is methodically constructing what is quite clearly an incubation mound, reasonably
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Photo © Ray Reichelt
E
Photo © Ray Reichelt
Photo © Ray Reichelt
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Photo © Ray Reichelt
D: In the dry conditions and extreme temperatures of malleefowl country, sand rather than rainforest leaf-litter provides much of the insulation, and the mound requires constant tending. E: Maintaining optimum conditions in the egg chamber demands considerable effort from both the male and female malleefowl. F: Malleefowl may move as much as 850kg of sand to access the mound’s incubation area.
similar to the brush-turkey (Alectura lathami) mounds I am familiar with in Queensland. Knowing something about those coastal birds, however, has served as little preparation for understanding the extraordinary efforts I am observing here. For one thing, there seems to be little or no moisture – the warm, moist, organic matter that forms the incubation chamber is limited to a smallish space in a much larger, drysand outer structure. A few minutes previously, a female malleefowl had laid an egg deep within the warm chamber. The moment she finished, the male anxiously filled the cone-shaped hole with soil and is now systematically covering the site with the dry, red sand of his surroundings.
A mound of information The first studies of the malleefowl’s abilities were conducted by one of Australia’s most important wildlife scientists, Dr Harry Frith. His investigations of birds in central New South Wales were the first to demonstrate that the male continually checked the temperature of the egg chamber and that he actively manipulated the structure to adjust the temperature to the preferred range (typically 32°C to 35°C). When Frith announced his discoveries in the late 1950s (eventually summarised in his 1962 classic, The Mallee-fowl: The Bird that Builds an Incubator) the scientific world was astonished at the apparent sophistication in such an unlikely subject. ‘A chicken – and an Australian to boot!’ quipped a London magazine. But as brilliant as he was,
Frith’s demanding, Canberra-based work schedule prevented him from spending extended periods with his subjects. Whimpey, on the other hand, has been visiting his avian neighbour Charlie virtually daily since 1980. Through his astounding diligence, Whimpey has amassed one of the world’s longest-running records of any wild animal. In fact, when he sat down recently to see just how much information he had compiled, he was shocked to realise he had more than 3800 days of detailed records. When one considers that Whimpey was collecting information on up to 25 different features, the immensity and potential scientific value of this collection becomes obvious. He has built a data set with a unique view into the remarkable world of this particular mound-builder. But the possible riches within this mountain of details are not necessarily obvious. They require careful analysis and interrogation using sophisticated statistical techniques – skills not usually abundant in rural Victoria – preferably applied by someone who knows and cares about the birds and what the data might disclose. Fortuitously, a few years previously, nearby Little Desert Lodge had hosted the megapode scientists of the world for an extremely successful and memorable conference. For exotic and local megapode researchers alike to have not only the chance to see the most famous megapode of all – the malleefowl – but also to have the best possible guide
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Photo © Ray Reichelt
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Photo © Ray Reichelt
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G: For nearly 30 years, Whimpey has been collecting data on air, ground and internal temperatures as well as mound shape and anything unusual. H: First you hatch, then you dig, and only the tough survive. I: Egg plus correct humidity plus correct temperature range and thermal stability equals malleefowl chick. How do they do it? Whimpey’s mine of data will support a long-term journey of discovery.
was a remarkable opportunity. Many life-long friendships and collaborations were formed over those few days. As two of the few Australia-based experts who grew up in very similar country in southern New South Wales, Whimpey and I immediately hit it off. Happily, when he needed a suitable and trustworthy partner in working through the data, the call came to me. In turn, I roped in Rob Appleby, a statistical expert working in our research group, to help unravel the secrets. For a scientist who has devoted almost 30 years to understanding megapodes, delving into this treasure trove is the opportunity of a lifetime. My knowledge of the subtropical brush-turkey provides a useful contrast to the arid-dwelling malleefowl: where the laid-back Queenslander can whip up a moderately useful mound in a couple of weeks, the no-nonsense arid-zone bird will be hard at work for much of the year. And while the humid warmth of the rainforest will lead to the generation of heat within days, the challenges facing the malleefowl appear almost impossible: daily extremes of heat and cold, long periods of searing sunlight interrupted by torrential downpours of freezing rain and a mound that requires the removal – followed by rapid replacement – of tonnes of insulating sand and soil. Achieving the goal of a stable thermal environment within the mound under these circumstances seems almost too hard.
Detailed comparisons One of our first investigations of the malleefowl data has been focused on the relationship between the temperature inside the mound and that of the air and ground near the mound. Whimpey’s records allow us to do this in extraordinary detail and to compare across years for variations in weather conditions. Embyronic development in birds requires a reasonably humid environment, the correct incubation temperature and a high level of thermal stability. For mound-builders, provided the organic matter within the egg chamber was suitably damp when raked together, humidity is rarely an issue. A correct and stable temperature, on the other hand, is critical. Despite the extreme variability of its arid surroundings, records show the temperature in Charlie’s mound is as steady as a high-tech oven! This is only an early glimpse of a long-term journey of discovery – thanks to a remarkable bushman and his patient, persistent monitoring of his mate Charlie. DARRYL JONES is director of the Centre for Innovative Conservation Strategies at Griffith University and a regular columnist (CityAnimal) for Wildlife Australia. With Ann Göth, he is co-author of Mound-Builders: Malleefowl, Brush Turkeys and Scrubfowl (2009).
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BY GREG CZECHURA, QUEENSL AND MUSEUM
Scratchings & Rustlings
Global hazards for summer birds Photo © peterfuller.com.au
Migratory shorebirds need rest areas in order to complete their long and hazardous journeys, and many of these essential areas are disappearing.
ny naturalist can find abundant evidence of global connections in their immediate environment, let alone on a wider journey. Once, these connections would have been regarded as unmistakable markers of divine – or infernal – handiwork, depending on the observer’s scripture. Today, such connections are much more likely to be regarded as the products of time, evolution and a variety of natural processes.
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What are the evidences of such connections? For a start, just look at any exposed, coastal mudflat during our spring and summer. Those grey or brown shorebirds that wander the flats, sticking their beaks in the mud at regular intervals, are actually ‘citizens’ of a perpetual summer in two hemispheres. They breed in the northern hemisphere (northern China, Siberia and Alaska) during the northern (boreal) summer and visit the southern hemisphere (Australasia) during their nonbreeding season (i.e. southern (austral) summer). This is a lifestyle to which only truly wealthy or lucky humans can aspire. Shorebirds are not the only birds that do this. Millions of birds, ranging from raptors and cranes to diminutive hummingbirds, undertake these annual migrations along well known flyways. Sadly, we don’t see the really massive flyovers of migrating birds that occur in the Americas or Eurasia, but I do recall seeing a constant stream of spangled drongos (Dicrurus bracteatus) moving south through Lakefield National Park on Cape York in early spring some years ago. There are also occasional reports of ‘massive’ flocks of birds – usually swifts – being seen from time to time, but it is often difficult to know if such flocks are ‘in migration’. Some species travel; others occur worldwide, or very nearly so, as groups of very closely related species. These are known as cosmopolitan species, and one is very dear to me. The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) occurs on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica, and is only absent from waterless deserts, New Zealand and some oceanic islands. However, peregrines do show local variation to the point that some 20 subspecies are currently recognised – Australian peregrines
belong to a single subspecies, Falco peregrinus macropus. In addition, some peregrine populations from the northern hemisphere are migratory while their tropical and southern counterparts are not. It is possible to find migratory northern peregrines living alongside non-migratory tropical or southern peregrines in some parts of the world during the southern summer! Global connections occur in everything from natural patterns of species dispersal and migrations to the movements of energy, chemicals and ecological processes. Sometimes, such connections are best highlighted using negative examples – the appearance of pesticides and other contaminants in the fat and tissues of animals that never leave Antarctica and the continent’s immediate waters. Human impact on the natural world is pervasive and many conservation issues need to be addressed by a global response. Rainforest conservation can no longer rely on actions of individual nations only. While clearing rates may have slowed in parts of the Amazon, according to some reports, it is accelerating in other parts of the world, such as Borneo. Again, there is a global connection: the rainforests are usually being cleared to satisfy demands for certain products, e.g. beef and palm oil, in other parts of the world. Global conservation issues are not easy to address. Consider the case of migratory shorebirds that move between Australia and the northern hemisphere along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. These birds, some weighing as little as 25g, usually take about six weeks to complete their journey. Along the way, the birds are confronted with natural hazards (predators and storms) as well as a host of ‘unnnatural’ hazards (loss of habitat, hunting, pollution etc.). Major wetlands that act as staging (where the birds gather before moving on to the next stage of their journey) or ‘rest’ areas are being lost to industrial and urban expansion all along the route. Their conservation requires a global effort on the part of many nations, but is this possible in the face of economic pressures? Only time will tell. GREG CZECHURA works for the Queensland Museum in Publications & Photography. Email: gregc@qm.qld.gov.au
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BY DARRYL JONES
City Animal
Ducking the issues Photo © S Starbridge
It is important to keep a careful eye on issues such as how our fondness for feeding ducks affects urban waterways and wildlife populations.
y local free newspaper recently carried an interesting and unsettling report that provides a valuable ‘real world’ reminder of why careful and detailed research into urban ecology is essential.
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I don’t doubt that quotations attributed to a local councillor were accurately reported and was not surprised to hear that, reacting with entirely appropriate alarm to the discovery of a number of dead ducks at an urban lake, the blame was placed squarely at the feet of the people who feed the ducks. What I was astonished to learn was that the councillor, ‘after a bit of research’ has found that a diet of bread and biscuits can lead to ‘heart disease, liver problems and other health complications’ serious enough to lead to death. This claim is remarkable because, as far as I have been able to determine after about 10 years of dedicated searching, there is astonishingly little known about these issues. Ducks have been gobbling bread for hundreds of years and apparently no one noticed the massive die-offs! This ‘research’ would be of enormous interest around the world. I believe there are two important points to be made here: people will often weigh up alarmist predictions against what they think they see (as we are currently witnessing with regard to climate change); and, that’s why we need to find out what is actually known about the issue (i.e. the research findings). This is especially important with something as widespread as ‘feeding the ducks’. Duck feeding may very well qualify as the most common and popular of all forms of world-wide wildlife encounters: throwing a handful of bread slices to the gathering ducks at the local pond. It has all the ingredients of a successful wildlife-human interaction: easy, cheap, fairly low-risk – and it almost always works. Who can actually resist the temptation of ‘just a few crumbs’ for the overly eager ducks quacking at your feet? (Indeed, there seems to be something almost innate about our willingness to share our food with what appear to be hungry animals.) Perhaps it is the familiarity and virtually domestic nature of this phenomenon that has prevented scientific investigations
of what is actually a major event: the addition of vast amounts of artificial food material to urban lake systems and the many implications this has for water quality, wildlife populations, animal welfare and long-term nutritional effects on the ducks involved. This was part of the reason that Renee Chapman decided to have a closer look at the complex issues surrounding this form of wildlife feeding (the other part was that she just loved ducks). An earlier study conducted around Brisbane had surveyed the waterbird biodiversity in lots of urban lakes and had found they supported a remarkable number of native species. But an unexpected discovery was also made during this study: almost all of the lakes supported typical ‘farmyard’ ducks as well: Pekins, Muscovies and domestic geese. This work had been conducted during the prolonged drought and we guessed that many of these birds had been translocated by hobby farmers whose farm dams had dried up. The influence of these non-native waterbirds on the dynamics of the lakes and native ducks was unknown, and just part of Renee’s investigations. One of the first things that Renee noticed was that people were much more likely to feed the domestic ducks than the native ducks. But this may have been because they were more demonstrative and assertive, pushing their way through the crowd of other birds to the front. Also, it is likely these birds, originating on farms, were used to being fed. Certainly, the people responded as expected, and often commented on how much they like the ‘big white ducks’. We suspect that their non-native status meant very little to people seeking an intimate encounter with a ‘wild’ animal. Renee’s current work is focused on whether all that bread is affecting the normal foraging behaviour of native ducks – research that desperately needs doing! DARRYL JONES is director of the Centre for Innovative Conservation Strategies at Griffith University. Email: d.jones@griffith.edu.au www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 41
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COMPILED BY LEE K. CURTIS
S ER NEY T A E EY AT HOAR, N HO ’T E ECT D N T N N DO BUT UIT A NSEC FR RY I IONS GA ET SU SECR
Photo © ataglance.com.au
Photo © ataglance.com.au
Photo © ataglance.com.au
Honeyeaters
Blue-faced honeyeater
Scarlet honeyeater
New Holland honeyeater
Entomyzon cyanotis
Myzomela sanguinolenta
Phylidonyris novaehollandiae
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
Length: 26-32cm; Weight: 95-125g
Length: 9-11cm; Weight: 8g
Length: 17-18cm; Weight: 20g
CALL
CALL
CALL
Loud raucous whistles and calls: ‘woik’, ‘keewit’, ‘teeu’, ‘hwit, hwit’.
Males sing a drawn-out, tinkling song from a visible perch. Both sexes use a ‘chiew chiew’ contact call.
Loud ‘chick’, softer ‘pseet’. When threatened, will band together in groups and give a loud alarm call.
DISTRIBUTION
Heathlands, eucalypt forests and woodlands along the south-eastern coast of QLD down through NSW, Victoria, and South Australia up to the edge of the Nullarbor, then southern WA and Tasmania.
DISTRIBUTION Inhabits open forests, woodlands, scrubs, watercourses farmlands, orchards, banana plantations, parks and gardens along coastal and eastern WA, NT, QLD. NSW, VIC.
SOME ESSENTIALS Small, communal groups hang out with other honeyeaters, feeding primarily on small invertebrates as well as nectar and fruit.
DID YOU KNOW? Rather than build their own nests, they will often use abandoned greycrowned babbler nests, re-lining the tops.
LEND A HAND Sometimes considered a pest in orchards. Use only white knitted bird and bat netting tensioned over a frame so birds can ‘bounce off’ rather than getting entangled.
Found in the canopy of tall, flowering trees along the eastern coast from Cooktown, QLD to Gippsland, VIC.
DISTRIBUTION
SOME ESSENTIALS Dull brown female builds the nest and sits on the eggs while the brightly coloured male protects their territory.
SOME ESSENTIALS
Australia’s smallest honeyeater.
Feeds almost exclusively on nectar from small flowering trees and shrubs plus sugary manna and honeydew. Pollinates more than 100 plant species.
LEND A HAND
DID YOU KNOW?
DID YOU KNOW?
Keep tight control over cats, especially during the scarlet honeyeater’s breeding season from July-January.
Appears to be unafraid of humans; frequently present in urban backyards.
LEND A HAND Nests in trees anywhere from ground level up to 6m and breeds year-round, so nestlings are very vulnerable to cat predation.
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Learn more!
Photo © ataglance.com.au
www.birdsinbackyards.net www.birdobservers.org.au www.birdsaustralia.com.au
Photo © ataglance.com.au
Photo © ataglance.com.au
Honeyeaters are only found in the south west Pacific, primarily Australia, across most habitats. They use their brush-tipped tongues to collect nectar and honeydew.
Spiny-cheeked honeyeater
White-plumed honeyeater
Eastern spinebill
Acanthagenys rufogularis
Lichenostomus penicillatus
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
Length: 15-16cm; Weight: 11g
Length: 23-26cm; Weight: 52g
Length: 15-17cm; Weight: 19g
CALL
CALL
CALL
Short, repeated, high-pitched piping.
Clear musical bubbly notes and a loud ‘tock’. Also mimics other bird calls.
A wide variety of songs, calls, whistles and piping (alarm call).
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION
Open forests and woodlands near water and wetlands on much of mainland Australia except across the tropical north and south-west. Strongly favours redgums.
Favours dry woodlands, mallee and acacia scrub across inland and arid Australia; will also visit orchards.
Acanthorhyncus tenuirostris
Heath, forests and woodlands east of the Great Dividing Range from Flinders Ranges, SA to Cooktown, QLD.
DISTRIBUTION
SOME ESSENTIALS Will visit suburban gardens and feed on non-native flowers.
SOME ESSENTIALS A fruit-eating honeyeater; also feeds on nectar, insects, small reptiles and nestlings.
DID YOU KNOW? Note the black-tipped pink beak and ‘spiny’ cheek feathers.
LEND A HAND Plant a variety of local flowering native shrubs and trees.
SOME ESSENTIALS
DID YOU KNOW?
Quick-moving and darts from tree to tree feeding on insects. It is the only honeyeater sporting a white neck plume.
Most honeyeaters perch while feeding on flower nectar. This bird hovers in hummingbird fashion.
LEND A HAND
DID YOU KNOW? This bird is one of the first to call at dawn and one of the last at dusk.
LEND A HAND Do not remove trees from waterways unless you replace them with native habitat plantings.
Bird attracting plants include common heath (Epacris impressa), red spider flower (Grevillea speciosa), native fuchsia (Correa reflexa), mountain devil (Lambertia formosa).
www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 43
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Book Reviews
Book Reviews
Australian Bustard by Mark Ziembicki, CSIRO Publishing (Australian Natural History Series), 2010. ISBN 9780643096110 Paperback, 120pp, col photos & illus, RRP $39.95
his well-organised and excellent natural history publication is based on the author’s PhD fieldwork on the Australian bustard. This impressive, stately bird is still found in large numbers in the tropical savannas of north Queensland and the Northern Territory, the areas used in the study. The fascinating information on every aspect of Australia’s largest flying bird is accompanied by a fine collection of colour photographs of the bird’s movement, flight and display and includes an impressive range of easily read graphs and tables to detail the research.
T Coral reefs and climate change: the guide for education and awareness by Craig Reid et al, CoralWatch, The University of Queensland, 2009. ISBN 9780646523606 CD and paperback, 256pp, col illus, RRP $45.00
An interesting addition is the history of knowledge about the bustard, beginning with the Bustard Dreamtime followed by reports from early European explorers. Comments by early settlers on the large numbers of bustards and their culinary delights indicate future trouble.
id you know that 40 percent of the world’s coral reefs are already lost or severely degraded and are disappearing five times faster than our rainforests? This book is both a daunting account of the current global crisis and an urgent call for action, aiming to inform, educate and empower people to act to reduce the impacts of climate change.
Threats to and conservation of this large, slow-moving bird, with its low reproductive output and opportunistic breeding pattern are well discussed but offer no simple solutions.
D
The book delivers its message in four chapters which work separately but combine into an extremely informative and empowering story. ‘Ocean Environment’ covers physical and chemical characteristics and influences of the oceans. ‘Coral Reefs’ focuses on the ecosystems, their environmental and cultural significance and threats. ‘Climate Change’ explores the latest science and consequences of inaction, encouraging the reader to question the kind of future we are creating. It is difficult not to become overwhelmed; however, ‘Power Of Us’ helps with individual steps that can make a difference, with practical examples of how to reduce your carbon footprint and help develop a stronger and brighter future for our planet. The authors cleverly combine simple language and the latest scientific research with informative diagrams, amazing photography, astonishing facts and figures and insightful accounts from scientists and traditional custodians of sea country to both inform and inspire the reader to make a difference. The package includes a CD with Coral Reefs and Climate Change Workbook, a Coral Watch instructional video, monitoring kits, articles, Reef Life ID charts and a virtual reef poster. Reviewed by Fiona Maxwell.
This well-researched book will be read with interest and enjoyment by bird lovers and students. Reviewed by Beth Pegg
Invisible Connections: Why Migrating Shorebirds Need the Yellow Sea by Phil Battley et al, CSIRO Publishing, 2010. ISBN9780643096592 Paperback, 160pp, 240 col photos RRP $49.95
ome people grow unaccountably excited upon seeing clusters of rather drab, indistinguishable birds gathered on tidal flats. If you are not yet one of these people, you may be joining their ranks after reading this book.
S
Eight experts write in enthralling detail about migratory waders, or shorebirds, and their lives and habitats along the East AsianAustralasian Flyway. In a matter of weeks, covering distances of more than 4000km at a time, these birds fly from summer breeding grounds in the Arctic to summer again in Australia and New Zealand. How? A combination of obesity and athleticism, says one author. This is life in the fat lane. The birds rely on the prolific resources of tidal flats to recover the energy for their next stage of travel or breeding. The Yellow Sea, with its many deltas and estuaries, is a central stopover on the flyway, but the book records other locations and breeding sites. Stunning and beautifully reproduced photographs, most by Jan van de Kam, give us intimate looks into this strenuous life, including bill shapes and fluffy youngsters that will join the migration three or four weeks after hatching. Changes to stopover sites, such as pollution, residential or industrial constructions have profound impacts not just on local communities that live by harvesting tidal zone riches, but on the entire chain of energy resources that fuel these remarkable wader migrations. If a symbol is needed for the importance of global cooperation on environmental issues, this is one.
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BY ILKA BLUE NELSON
Book Reviews
Considering
While biologists suggest that perhaps 20 percent of mammals, 11 percent of birds, and 5 percent of fish are threatened, and botanists anticipate the loss of 10 percent of floristic diversity, linguists and anthropologists today bear witness to the imminent disappearance of half the extant languages of the world. Wade Davis in The Wayfinders
Photo © Andy Baker
In a world of high-speed global connections, how do we communicate the sense of place held in local knowledge and languages?
Time for talk hen I think of ecosystems I see a concertina of natural limits. What flows between these boundaries is informed by biological relationships. Political borders do not kindle these natural connections nor do they allow for rhythmic migrations.
W
In order to expedite a globally connected world it helps to implement a universal language. However while this benefits economic progress, the homogenisation of language puts cultural diversity at risk and with it, our relationship to place. To lose a language is to lose thousands of years of evolved knowledge, mythology and cultural understanding of the natural world. It is possible to see how culture, like an ecosystem, is thrown out of balance with the introduction of invasive species. For centuries people have habitually moved across boundaries for purposes of trade and cultural exchange. Migration is etched in historical trade routes and ancestral paths such as the Songlines latticed across Australia. But the time of the intrepid explorer is fading. Travel is now accessible to a huge market which is commercially engineered by the dominant, homogenising influence of the English language and the capitalist systems of the West. Last summer I joined the Slow Flow expedition of creative environmentalists down the Whanganui River, Aotearoa. We were led by a Maori crew who invited us to stay at their maraes, housed along the river. Maraes are sacred meeting places and they hold an ancient custom that all visitors must be sung through ceremony on arrival and departure. It was an unexpected experience to be taken deep in to another culture and I realised how unprepared I was for this connection. I had no song, no custom to bring from my own culture, to return the respect. Though I had travelled globally, I had never journeyed as a custodian of place.
As an exercise, we were asked by Mike, the Maori leader, to use shadow puppetry to show how we would bring our ancestors back to the river. At least half of the group were immobilised by the task. We felt culturally restricted, empty. Having inherited independence, the legacy of the West which commemorates the rational individual, we had no idea who it was we would sing back let alone how to call them. Bewildered, I used poetry to respond to the exercise. My poem was freshly written with imaginary myth and no links to place. It was not the haunting ancestral song sung by Mike, but it was an offering that was understood. The Slow Flow expedition confronted my relationships with our natural and cultural world. It was the beginning of seeing how creativity and dialogue are invaluable tools to bridge and sustain diverse connections. Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall, in their book Spiritual Capital, explain: ‘Dialogue incites compassion, promotes self awareness and causes participants to reframe their own paradigm. It is about questions rather than answers, finding out rather than knowing, sharing and listening.’ As civilisation progresses and becomes increasingly accessible with the aid of technology, we would be wise to take the time – and it does take time – to listen to the people who carry the wisdom of their place. It is this language that will cultivate our relationship with the natural world while maintaining our global connections.
ILKA BLUE NELSON is a Creative Environmentalist, blending Arts Curating with a boundless passion for nature – and surfing. She runs a social sustainability service, The Last Tree (www.thelasttree.net). Photographer ANDY BAKER is a Vegetation Ecologist with a special interest in fire ecology and runs Wildsite Ecological Services. (www.wildsite.com.au)
www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 45
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Book Reviews
BY STEPHEN GOODWIN
Cyber Jungle
www.malleefowl.com.au Hotlinked at www.wildlife-australia.org
The Malleefowl Preservation Group For many, the mention of malleefowl may conjure images of Victoria’s famed Mallee region. However, as the work of the WA-based Malleefowl Preservation Group illustrates, interest in this remarkable – and endangered – creature actually involves a much wider range. The group’s utilitarian site offers an effective introduction to habits and distribution of the malleefowl, including a short video showing a pair of birds hard at work maintaining a breeding mound. Most of the focus is on work with local farmers to arrest habitat fragmentation and species decline, including radio-tracking research to discover how chicks survive the dangerous first few hours of life and efforts to create habitat corridors.
www.dcq.org.au Hotlinked at www.wildlife-australia.org
Desert Channels Queensland Once in a blue moon, Australia’s Channel Country bursts into life as floods fill – and overfill – its tangle of waterways. The rest of the time, it’s dry as old bones. Desert Channels Queensland is the regional natural resource management organisation that is there in good times and bad, helping locals sustain healthy and sustainable ecosystems and communities. Between the summaries of the Channel Country, its climate, catchment and communities, there are two offerings that really bring the site to life. The first is the group’s regular newsletter, The Basin Bullet. Part educational forum and part community noticeboard, its production values and thoughtful feature articles make it a compelling read. The second is the regional stories section – full of interesting slices of life and recent news from the area.
www.wettropics.gov.au Hotlinked at www.wildlife-australia.org
Wet Tropics Management Authority The Wet Tropics Management Authority oversees the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of far north Queensland – an area that possesses Australia’s greatest diversity of animals and plants even though it makes up only 0.26 percent of the continent. Its website is correspespondingly diverse. From library archives of conservation strategies, land-use agreements and surveys, to educational sub-sites specially designed for use by teachers and students, there’s something here for everyone. Browse through the list of plants and animals and you’ll quickly discover scores of lesser-known species of fungi, invertebrates and much more – all discussed in loving detail. And if you’re planning a visit, tourist tips on what – and what not – to do are essential reading!
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T: 1300 788 000
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Visit our website for more titles or to order online www.wildlife-australia.org | WILDLIFE Australia Magazine | 47
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BY MICHAEL SNEDIC
Trekabout Photography
Photo © Michael Snedic/michaelsnedic.com
Understanding an animal’s behaviour is valuable preparation for capturing a dramatic moment.
Little Egret male little egret in full breeding plumage races across the lily pads in a Brisbane pond. Occasionally he stops suddenly and fans his wings out. The reason for this seemingly strange manoeuvre is to create shade in order to clearly see any tiny fish that might be lurking below the water’s surface.
A
I had already spent four mornings trying to photograph this bird and it was, at times, a frustrating process. Every time I lay down on the ground to be at eye-level to the egret, he would go to the other side of the pond. I’d pick up all my gear and reposition myself – and he would move somewhere else! After many hours of this each morning, my patience was wearing a tad thin, so it was with relief that I noticed he was letting me get quite close without running off. I guess he finally realised that I did not represent a threat to him. I waited for what seemed an eternity, my right eye glued to the camera’s viewfinder. I composed the shot so that the egret’s bill was angled towards the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and focused on his eye. To blur out the background, I set the camera’s f-stop (aperture) to f4 and
to freeze any movement, the shutter speed was 1/4000th of a second. Due to harsh lighting on the day, I changed the camera’s exposure compensation setting to minus one and a half, to minimise over-exposing his white feathers. Suddenly, he jabbed his bill deep into the water at lightning speed and it came back out with a flapping fish. This was my cue and I took a series of shots using the camera’s continuous shutter setting. The little egret had captured his ‘prize’ and I had captured mine. When photographing wildlife behaviour, patience, perseverance and lots of practice are recommended. Happy photography!
MICHAEL SNEDIC is a Brisbane-based nature photographer, writer and presenter of ‘in-the-field’ photography workshops throughout south-east Queensland, the Red Centre and Norfolk Island. www.michaelsnedic.com www.trekaboutphotography.com
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CROSSWORD by Sarah Martin (solutions next issue)
E
D 2010 H ALTITU G N I T SPR LIFE WI WILD
SARAH MARTIN creates custom-designed crosswords and can be contacted at martinsarahliz@yahoo.com.au
Photo © Michael Snedic/michaelsnedic.com
WILDLIFE WITH ALTITUDE Shallow to deep, leaf litter to canopy, north to south – animals (and plants) live in a three-dimensional world. Many species need mobility and connectivity to find the level they need at the time they need it. Climb into our Spring 2010 issue to find out more about Wildlife With Altitude.
ACROSS 1 3 5 7 8 10 11 13 15 19 20 21 23 24
Investigations, sometimes in the form of field work (8, pp 24-31) One of the Galliformes (6, pp 36-39) Northern boundary of former Bertiehaugh Station (5, pp 32-35) See 2 Down GR Outback seed nomads (11, pp 18-23) GIFEAT Moaning and Strangler Fig are ____ forests (4, pp 32-35) ID T SEE EA See 13 Across PAG E3 Southern ______ _______ found on Cape York Peninsula and New Guinea (6,6, pp 12-17) See 16 Down What supports arid zone fertility so quickly after rains? (3, pp 18-23) Invertebrates are the ‘other’ 99 percent of ____________ (12, pp 32-35) Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve (abbr) (4, pp 32-35) Queensland’s _______ Country, reinvigorated by flooding rains (7, pp 18-23) Endangered speartooth _____, found in the Wenlock River (5, pp 32-35)
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE TODAY
www.wildlife-australia.org
SOLUTION Autumn 2010
DOWN 1 2 4 6 8 9 12 14 16 17 18 22
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___ sand dune landscape in outback Queensland (3, pp 18-23) Diporiphora winneckei feed on insects in spinifex clumps (9,7, pp 18-23) ____-_______ frogs guard developing tadpoles in egg masses (4-7, pp 12-17) High levels support optimum growth conditions (2, pp 18-23) These pollinating insects proliferate after rain (4, pp 18-23) Time taken for eggs to hatch determined by temperature (10) Small dasyurid found on Cape York Peninsula: fawn-footed _______ (7, pp 12-17) Ready for boom times after floods: freshwater _____ (5, pp 18-23) A necessary element for embryonic development in birds (7,9, pp 36-39) The .....knob-tailed gecko feeds amongst spinifex after rain (6, pp 18-23) Best seen after rain: glossy and straw-necked ____ (4, pp 18-23) Indigenous Management Agreement (abbr) (3, pp 12-18)
KEEP DISCOVERING WILDLIFE
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Photo Š Chris Pollitt cover.indd 1
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