Western Australian Bird Notes Quarterly Newsletter of the Western Australian Branch of BirdLife Australia No. 148 December 2013 See page 29 for Notice of Annual General Meeting, 24 February 2014. birds are in our nature Beach Stone-curlew on the Sandalwood Australasian Pipit, Bootine Road (see report, page 38). Photo Peninsula (see report, page 4). Photo by by Barry Heinrich Dan Weller Refer Notice on Banded Stilt request, page 33. (Far left) Banded Stilt, banded and (left) Banded Stilt chicks, banded. Photos by Zoe Jellie Figure 1: Hooded Plover distribution map (northern and eastern extremes) See Hooded Plover report, page 20 Front cover: Spotted Pardalote seen feeding its young at Ellis Brook on 14 September. Photo by Pauline Arnold Page 2 Western Australian Bird Notes, No. 148 December 2013 Western Australian Branch of BirdLife Australia Office: Peregrine House 167 Perry Lakes Drive, Floreat WA 6014 Hours: Monday-Friday 9:30 am to 12.30 pm Telephone: (08) 9383 7749 E-mail: [email protected] BirdLife WA web page: www.birdlife.org.au/wa Chair: Suzanne Mather Tel: (08) 9389 6416 E-mail: [email protected] BirdLife Western Australia is the WA Branch of the national Juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit, Eyre organisation, BirdLife Australia. We are dedicated to creating a brighter future for Australian birds. Bird Observatory (see report, p43). Photo by Alan Pilkington General meetings: Held at the Bold Park Eco Centre, Perry Lakes Drive, Floreat, commencing 7:30 pm on the 4th Monday of the month (except December) – see ‘Coming events’ for details Executive meetings: Held at Peregrine House on the 2nd Monday of the month. Communicate any matters for consideration to the Chair. Western Australian Bird Notes ISSN 1445-3983 Joint WABN Editors: Allan Burbidge Tel: (08) 9405 5109 (w) Tel/Fax: (08) 9306 1642 (h) Fax: (08) 9306 1641 (w) E-mail: [email protected] (Above) Australian Shelduck Suzanne Mather ducklings, and (below) Musk Tel: (08) 9389 6416 E-mail: [email protected] Duck, Bibra Lake (see report, Production: Margaret Philippson p38). Photos by Barry Heinrich Printing and distribution: Daniels Printing Craftsmen Tel: (08) 9204 6800 danielspc.com.au Notes for Contributors The Editors request contributors to note: • WABN publishes material of interest to the WA Branch; • contributions should be written or typed with double spacing—a copy on disk or emailed would assist, especially if in MSWord as a document without styles; do not embed pictures or graphics in MS Word; • contributions to be sent direct to the Editors, either at the office or by email: Sue Mather: [email protected] Allan Burbidge: [email protected] C o n t e n t s • WABN uses BirdLife Australia recommended English names; 4. North West Cape 28. Crossword welcomes shorebirds • except for Observations, contributions will be published 28. Notices unless the contributor is informed to the contrary. 5. Letters to Editors • Full Editorial Policy is in WABN 74:10-12 29. Notice of AGM • WABN is not peer reviewed 6. Observations 34. Country branches 8. BirdLife WA reports 37. Excursion reports Printing Deadlines (at the BirdLife WA Office) 8. Awards 42. Observatory reports March 2014 issue: 1 February June 2014 issue: 1 May 9. BirdLife WA projects 45. Coming events September 2014 issue: 1 August 22. Naming of birds 50. Calendar of events December 2014 issue: 1 November 24 Members’ contributions 50. Crossword answers Western Australian Bird Notes, No. 148 December 2013 Page 3 North West Cape welcomes shorebirds IDENTIFYING habitat AND BUILDING CONSERVation capacitY North-western Western Australia supports some of the most important congregations of migratory shorebirds in Australia. While the importance of sites such as the Ramsar-listed Roebuck Bay and Eighty Mile Beach are well documented, other sites along the often remote coast are lesser known. In October and November 2012, a team of BirdLife Australia staff and volunteers, Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW, formerly DEC, Department of Environment and Conservation) personnel and members of the local community embarked on an expedition to investigate the importance of the Ningaloo and Exmouth Gulf coast and islands to shorebirds. This project was made possible through funding from Coastwest. The Exmouth Gulf is one of the largest embayments along Breakfast with the birds at Cape Range National the Western Australian coast. Much of the gulf is dominated by dense mangroves and mudflats backed by extensive Park (see also p2). Photo by Leanne Reaney supratidal saltflats. The north-western shore is used intensively throughout the year for recreation, while the islands and southern and eastern shores receive relatively Exmouth Gulf and to identify key coastal bird habitat within low visitation, mostly from campers and fishers. The the Ningaloo Marine Park. In this way it could address ‘Exmouth Gulf Mangroves’ was designated as an Important knowledge gaps as well as inform management needs by Bird Area after an ornithological survey of the eastern coast identifying pressures in this area, where there is a growing identified that the area supports over 1 per cent of the local and tourist population and increasing activity from world population of the migratory Grey-tailed Tattler and the industrial development. Before mitigation strategies can be resident Australian Pied Oystercatcher. implemented, it is necessary to raise awareness among the The Ningaloo World Heritage Area coastline runs parallel community and land managers about the conservation issues to Ningaloo Reef, Australia’s largest fringing reef. It is surrounding shorebirds. Providing the community and land characterised by sandy beaches, rocky benches or low managers with knowledge to manage and monitor these limestone cliffs, sometimes with a sloping beach, intertidal habitats will foster local understanding and engagement and rock platform and limited patches of mangroves and build skills to enhance local capacity to monitor and protect mudflats. Seabirds and shorebirds are recognised as shorebirds. Therefore the project also included training and ecological values of the Ningaloo Marine Park, and one of awareness-raising designed to foster community involvement the long-term management targets of the site is ‘no loss in both the shorebird surveys and the protection of their of seabird, shorebird and migratory wader diversity or habitat. abundance as a result of human activity in the reserves’ (CALM 2005). Results While the Both aerial and ground surveys were undertaken. Results of value of the surveys include: these sites to shorebirds • 20 235 coastal birds (shorebirds, seabirds, waterbirds, had been marine birds of prey) of 57 species observed, including recognised, 13 012 shorebirds of 27 species. limited data was available • Exmouth Gulf and islands met International Site of and large Significance criteria (supporting over 1 per cent of the sections of Flyway population) for Grey-tailed Tattler and Pied and the coast Sooty Oystercatchers. and islands had not been • A further 11 species met National Site of Significance surveyed. criteria (supporting over 0.1 per cent of the Flyway The ‘North population) — Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Greenshank, West Cape Eastern Curlew, Great Knot, Greater Sand Plover, Welcomes Lesser Sand Plover, Red-necked Stint, Ruddy Turnstone, Shorebirds’ Sanderling, Terek Sandpiper and Whimbrel. project aimed to provide • 32 species (including 21 shorebirds) listed as migratory Locals Genavieve and Scott a complete under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity surveying shorebirds at Bundega. survey of Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act 1999) were recorded; shorebirds Photo by Kim Onton Fairy Tern was the only species listed as threatened in the (Vulnerable) under the EPBC Act. Page 4 Western Australian Bird Notes, No. 148 December 2013 • Eight species listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife formed, including 12-year-old Genavieve who has already Conservation (Specially Protected Fauna) Notice 2012(2) started monitoring her local count site at Bundegi. Future (WA) — Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew Sandpiper, Eastern surveys will be embedded in the Shorebirds 2020 program Curlew, Fairy Tern, Great Knot, Greater Sand Plover, and conducted to the national standard to allow comparison Lesser Sand Plover and Red Knot. with other shorebird sites. References • Five species are also listed under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2013) — Beach Stone- CALM (2005). ‘Management Plan for the Ningaloo Marine curlew (Near Threatened), Eastern Curlew (Vulnerable), Park and Muiron Island Marine Management Area Great Knot (Vulnerable), Black-necked Stork (Near 2005-2015, Management Plan No. 52’. (Department of Threatened) and Fairy Tern (Vulnerable). Conservation and Land Management: Perth). • All major habitat types were sampled during the IUCN (2013). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. survey, including sandy beaches and spits, rocky Version 2013.1. Accessed online 14 August 2013. http:// shores, mangroves, tidal creeks, mudflats and saltflats, www.iucnredlist.org. representing habitats used by different species. Kim Onton, Golo Maurer and Dan Weller • Pied Oystercatchers, Crested Terns, Caspian Terns, Pied Cormorants and Ospreys were recorded nesting. Shorebird workshops were held for both DPaW personnel and members of the local community, involving a presentation followed by a field trip to Bundegi. BirdLife Western Australia’s Community Education Committee presented a school program to science students