Welcome to the Wildside

Monday, October 15, 2007

Greetings from the Editor Recently we have been contracted by the Murray CMA to G'day all and welcome to our second issue of 'Welcome to monitor and baseline the biodiversity of that catchment, the Wildside'. This newsletter is put out by David Linden- which will see our studies extend out to the Deniliqin area. mayer's research team at the Australian National University. It is our aim is to ensure that all our research partners, such This November with the help of the Canberra Ornithologists as yourselves, are up to date with our work around the area. Group we are conducting another bird survey at Nanangroe. It will be interesting to see if we observe the same trends that Our research team has had another busy six months since the we have been seeing over the last couple of years, namely of last issue. Another winter bird survey was completed across some bird species increasing and others decreasing. the South West Slopes Restoration Study with some interest- ing results. We have continued our communication strategy Finally, thanks to all those people in the Restoration Study with numerous presentations and the showing of the exhibi- that filled out our landowner surveys. We will let you know tion from Bingara in northern NSW to the Henty Field Days. the results as soon as they are compiled. Mason Crane

Spreading the Word The Great Australian fully this better equips land managers Marsupial Nightstalk Over the last six months the team has with information to help guide manage- continued it's commitment to communi- ment decision that may affect wildlife. cating the results of our research: If you want to pick up some posters Posters and Brochures for your school or kids, or some bro- chures, please call into our office or give us a call.

Henty Field Days The Great Australian Marsupial Again this September we set up a dis- Nightstalk is held annually from the 1st play at the Henty Field Days. It was a of September-16th October. It is coordi- great couple of days in which Damian nated by the Perth Zoo and can be con- and myself got a chance to chat with ducted by individuals, community We have just had printed our new many people. Thanks to the Murray and groups and schools. It is a great way for 'Home Sweet Home – Life in a Wood- Murrumbidgee CMAs for letting us kids and adults to learn more about the land Tree' poster. The poster aims to have some space in the Landcare Shed. native animals that live in their area. educate people about the importance of This year, we had a great time helping our ancient paddock trees and the many the Wee Jasper and Public resources they provide for wildlife. The Schools with their nightstalk and saw poster also explains what 'ecosystem plenty of possums. If you have the services' some animals provide. internet 'Google' the great Australian Our new brochures series has also Marsupial Nighstalk. The official web- been released. The aim of the brochures site has a spotlighting game, great for is to help explain what we do and who little (and big!) kids. we are, and to summarise some of the key findings from our research. Hope- Page 2 Thursday, October 25, 2007

If you are thinking of conducting a This survey the native farm forestry In addition to the generous prize money similar activity at your school, we are plantings were great, particularly the (which was used to extend the employ- more then happy to help out with talks ones containing Spotted Gum (one of ment of Darren Brown- a Research or by offering expertise when we can. the few trees flowering). One farm for- Officer and member of the Wreck Bay estry site near Holbrook was literally Aboriginal Community working with Extending our Results aswarm with honeyeaters and other us on the Jervis Bay Fire Response Pro- birds feeding in, and around, the flow- ject), DaimlerChrysler have also kindly ering gums. Not only was it a feast for sponsored the team with two Jeep Locally the team have also been the Yellow-tufted and White-plumed Commanders (you may have seen us involved in an advisory role with the Honeyeaters, Little Lorikeets, Noisy driving around looking pretty flash in Slopes to Summit project and the Miners and Red Wattlebirds, but also these!). Hume Highway Duplication project. It the predators. Within a 20 minute is good to see some of the results and period, I saw a Peregrine Falcon, a These Jeeps are diesel AWD models knowledge from our studies helping Brown Falcon and a Collared Sparrow and can seat up to 7 people (ideal for us shape on-ground conservation works. hawk dive bomb the area. Another farm transporting volunteers around). Not forestry site near Big Springs was great only are they super-stylish and very Last June's bird surveys for another reason. The site had been comfortable, but they also handle recently pruned, with the prunings left remarkably well off-road and with their of the South West Slopes on the ground. This fine woody debris low 4 option, perform surprisingly well Study creates great habitat for small birds, under steep or slippery terrain. attracting at least two pairs of the Winter bird surveys are usually very threatened Speckled Warbler to this Thanks DaimlerChrysler!! interesting with the arrival of the altitu- site. Speckled Warblers use such dinal migrants such as the Flame Rob- places to feed, hide and nest. Going West ins and Golden Whistlers. Normally it Mason Crane is also the time when honeyeaters and birds such as the Swift Parrot arrive to Travelling in Style spend the winter feeding on the flower- ing whitebox and ironbarks. This year very few trees flowered due to the pre- vious 12 months being so dry. This resulted in very few honeyeaters being recorded during the survey. The good news was many of the small insectivo- rous birds numbers had come back after being few and far between in the We have recently been awarded an November 2006 survey. Yellow Thorn- exciting new contract with the Murray bills, Weebills and Fairy- wrens seem CMA to manage the “Biodiversity to have had good breeding success with Baseline Monitoring Project”. This pro- large numbers of juveniles about. ject will be based in the Biore- gion of the Murray Catchment (i.e. Some interesting sighting this survey In 2006, David Lindenmayer was heading west and south from approxi- were Zebra Finches at two sites, Yellow awarded the DaimlerChrysler Austra- mately to the Victorian border). tufted Honeyeaters at two sites, a Sea lian Environmental Research Award. The Murray CMA are hoping that this Eagle near Nangus and a pair of Bush This award recognises and promotes will be a long-term study, and so have Australian researchers or research pro- asked the ANU to design a project, set Stone-curlews (see picture) near Walla grams that have made a significant con- up sites and implement a suitable biodi- Walla. tribution to understanding, or resolving, versity monitoring program that can be local or global environmental prob- used to track changes to biodiversity in lems. David received the award for his the long-term and determine the reasons work on the and Nanangroe for such changes. The Murray CMA are studies which have helped improve the to be applauded for their visionary scientific understanding of biodiversity thinking as good long-term data sets are impacts associated with plantations and vital for effective natural resource man- have also helped to guide best practice agement in this rapidly-changing world. plantation management. Page 3Thursday, October 25, 2007

We are contracted to the project for 3 • Promote native grass tussocks in years and wish to answer the follow- (see picture). During the good times, pastures. ing questions in that time: these little guys store fat in their tail! • Have areas on your property where grasses can grow tall and §How does wildlife differ between rank. vegetation types in this region? • Protect existing native grasslands: §How does wildlife differ between intact and modified. grazing practices (e.g. set-stock- • Control feral and pet cats. ing, sporadic stocking)? §How does wildlife differ between sites of varying conditions? A Year in the Life of a §What is the relative merit of differ- David kindly informed us that a study ent ‘biodiversity initiatives’ showed the area immediately south of Carpet Python. (e.g. active management of was home to one of the remnants, saltbush plantings highest concentrations of Eastern and pasture management for Brown Snakes anywhere. Got to love native grass enhancement)? that biodiversity!!!

Excitingly, we are getting beyond the We look forward to keeping you up to ‘patch’ and studying wildlife out in date with the happenings in this proj- the paddocks- as you know, many dif- ect! ferent animals spend considerable amounts of time feeding and ‘hanging Rebecca Montague-Drake out’ in these areas. Critter Files: Olive One hundred new sites will be set-up It was in May 2006 when we began across five vegetation types including: Legless Lizard Delmar searching for Inland Carpet Pythons in inornata the hills north of . Two hours §Boree Woodland (see picture); into the search we spotted our first §Sandhill Woodland (Callitris pine python, coiled in the fork of a Red dominated); Gum, 10 m above the ground. After §Black Box Woodland; scaling the tree it wasn’t long before §Grey Box Woodland; we had bagged the surprised snake. §Pastures with scattered chenopod After a short spell in a holding tank, shrubs. recovering from an operation in which we implanted a radio transmitter into While many of the birds will be famil- the stomach cavity, the 2 m female iar to us from the South West Slopes, python was safely released back into we are also looking forward to seeing her tree. She spent the next few days birds more typical of the ‘western The Olive Legless Lizard is a fairly soaking up the sun before day tem- country’ such as White-winged Fairy- common lizard in the South West peratures dropped too low for her to wrens (the males are blue with white- Slopes, which is often mistaken for a digest any more food. The next time I wings), Australian Ringnecks (an baby brown snake and killed. The located her she had moved 200 m into amazingly vibrant parrot), Blue Bon- key differences are that Olive a large granite outcrop where she nets (another more subtly coloured, Legless Lizards do not have a black spent the winter months sheltered but equally attractive, parrot), Yellow- head unlike baby brown snakes, and inside a crevice. Contrary to belief, throated Miners (like the Noisy’s but that legless lizards have an ear hole she didn’t strictly hibernate because black does not extend above their eye (as you can see in the picture) and a on a few occasions in mid June, she and they are not quite so pugnacious) solid, fleshy (not forked) tongue. would bask outside the crevice. It is and Spiny-cheeked, Striped and Sing- thought that some snakes bask during ing Honeyeaters. I could go on (and The Olive Legless Lizard eats spi- winter to adjust their body clocks with on and on) but I will leave it there. ders and other invertebrates. They the season and possibly even prepare spend most of the time under logs, their reproductive systems ready for In the western country, you also get a grass tussocks, rocks and in spider spring breeding. lot of ‘cracking clay’ soil which can holes. be home to all manner of reptiles and mammals. We are getting quite What Can I Do? The breeding season arrived and she excited about seeing the myriad of left the winter hideout at the start of ‘western geckos’, such as the Gibber • Leave fallen timber and rocks in September, making short movements Gecko and Beaked Gecko and hoping paddocks and bush blocks. before occupying a system of rabbit for sightings of Fat-tailed Dunnarts burrows at the edge of the remnant. Page 2 Thursday, October 25, 2007

Unfortunately, I missed all mating activ- Parks Service, NSW National Parks, ity as it all happened below ground but and ANU, and completed a Bush shortly after, in mid November, the Regeneration course. With the comple- pregnant snake moved a distance of 800 tion of my degree I join David Linden- m and laid a clutch of approximately 20 mayer's team at the ANU as a casual eggs in a small cavity below the ground. employee. This then became full-time, She stayed coiled on the eggs, incubat- as I took on the role of managing the ing them for nearly 70 days! The young Central Highlands Monitoring Study are completely independent from birth, from 1998 to 2001, and then both the although only a few usually survive the Tumut Fragmentation and Nanangroe first year. As soon as the babies hatched Projects from 2000. I also played an in late February, she left the nest and integral role in the establishment of the spent the next two months moving Riverina Restoration Study In 2004 I about the outcrop hunting rabbits, nest- Other interesting sightings have been: moved to the beautiful area of Jervis ling birds and possums. Magpie Geese at Albury and .; Bay where I manage the Jervis Bay Fire a Sea Eagle at Nangus; the Bush Response Project and am completing a Stone-curlews at Walla; the tiny Masters degree part time. An intense wildfire occurred while she Feather-tail Glider at Adjungbilly and was on the eggs, removing much of the ; a Crimson Chat (a bird nor- Further information ground cover vegetation and many trees, mally found in spinifex and mallee) so spotting her after she left the nest was turning up near Holbrook; and a Yel- For any further information or gen- almost impossible as she was always low-faced Whipsnake in Albury. eral inquiries, please phone us, drop us below ground or in rock crevices. So an email or call in and see us. after one year, I had located her 35 Staff Profile times but only saw her on four occa- Gundagai Wildlife Information sions. I guess this is a good survival The idea of having a staff profile is so Centre strategy when living in areas with you can get to know some the many Phone 02 69 444 586 eagles, foxes and goannas, all capable people who are part of David Linden- of killing a large python. She ended up mayer's research team. Mason Crane back at the same winter site last winter Ph. 0427770594 but because she had lost a third of her Chris MacGregor [email protected] fat reserves she will not attempt to breed now for at least 3 years. As of last week, Rebecca Montague-Drake mid October, she left the winter site so I started my first career as an IT Sys- Ph. 042777602 I’ll continue to track her over the few tems Auditor (with a Bachelor of [email protected] years and hopefully bump into her com- Financial Administration from the panions or offspring. University of New England). After 10 Damian Michael years in the finance industry, I was Ph.042770595 Damian Michael inspired to leave the city life behind [email protected] after travelling overseas and then com- About the Traps pleting an ‘Outward Bound’ Course. For information on projects and pub- lications check out David Lindemayers The summer migrants have arrived home page http://cres.anu.edu.au/peo- including Dollarbirds, Rainbow Beeat- ple/userprofile.php?user=davidl ers, and Sacred Kingfishers.

The dry continues but the wildlife is still Thanks to: hanging on. Many birds are attempting to breed and some with success already.

In our recent surveys at the VISY Paper Mill, Tumut, we sighted over 1000 Hardhead ducks on their waste I went back to the Australian National water dam and found some interesting University where I completed a frogs including the increasingly rare Bachelor of Science (Resource and Environmental Management) degree. I Smooth Toadlet (see photo). also did volunteer work with the ACT