The wild population of Glossy Cockatoo is growing on Kangaroo island thanks to conservation project

Conservation projects

0

After 20 years when local authorities have been working on recovering of the wild Glossy Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami) population on Kangaroo island the first positive results come. The recovery program is run by Australian Government, Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) and local volunteers.

The number of birds on the Kangaroo island which is found in South Australia near to Adelaide city started growing noticeably. This isolated population is considered to be a separated subspecies Calyptorhynchus lathami halmaturinus. In comparison with nominate race it has a larger beak.

According to BirdLife International, there are only 70 pairs of Glossies living of Kangaroo Island. This cockatoo is a food specialist strictly dependent on Casuarina seeds and that’s why loss of Casuarina trees affects its population size a lot. Attacks of possums is another threat for this species.

a

a

Corrugated metal sheet is the best protection against possums

“Unmanaged, the existence of the glossy black cockatoo would be highly doubtful,” said Karleah Berris from DEWNR for ABC news.

“There was a lot of concern in the mid 90s about the glossy black cockatoo. People noticed that they had been declining and got together to form the recovery program we now have in place.”

Firstly, the recovery program had to answer the question why is the island population of this species in decline.

“Initially staff working on the program found that one of the big issues was the low rate of reproductive success,” Ms Berris said. Another reason were above mentioned possums which kill both egg and live birds, and also the fact that Glossy Cockatoos lay only one egg when nesting.

a

(c) Aviceda. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

a

“Possums are also a native species over here, however with clearing for agriculture they have become overabundant in areas,” Ms Berris said.

“So they were placing increasing pressure on the population.”

Conservationists came with a solution really quickly. They put corrugated metal sheets on the base of nesting trees. This is a obstacle which possums can’t overcome. It was also necessary to cut branches of surrounding trees so the predators can’t climb it.

a

Feral bees under control

Another cause of population decline is lack of natural tree cavities. Deforestation is responsible for this situation as well as other bird species and feral bees which occupy the nests. That’s why the recovery program start hanging of artificial nests.

Above mentioned bees represent one of the most serious threat for the wild population of Glossy Cockatoos. Conservationists decided to cooperate with local beekeepers and captured many swarms so the total number of bees have been reduced. Native bee species don’t mean any threat for cockatos because they don’t swarm.

a

Title photo: Aviceda (c) This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This article was written in cooperation with Ararauna.cz

Share on Facebook

Follow us

Save