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Are Mound Springs Important Refugia for Eastern Grass Owls Tyto Longimembris in South-Western Queensland?

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Are Mound Springs Important Refugia for Eastern Grass Owls Tyto Longimembris in South-Western Queensland? Australian Field Ornithology 2014, 31, 208–212 Are mound springs important refugia for Eastern Grass Owls Tyto longimembris in south-western Queensland? Mark J. Antos1* and Peter Dann2 1Parks Victoria, 535 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia Email: [email protected] 2Research Department, Phillip Island Nature Parks, P.O. Box 97, Cowes, Phillip Island VIC 3922, Australia. Email: [email protected] *Corresponding author Summary. This note reports an incidental observation of an Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris which was disturbed from its roosting site in wetland vegetation associated with a natural mound spring in south-western Queensland. There are only two published records of the Grass Owl using this rare habitat type, although there are records from similar habitats associated with artificial bore drains. The potential importance of mound-spring habitats for Grass Owls is explored, and some of the threats facing these sites are described. Introduction The Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris has an unusual distribution for an Australian bird. Although the vast majority of records are from coastal and subcoastal areas between Sydney, New South Wales, and Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, there are also records from the Top End of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley of Western Australia, as well as a scattering of records from inland Australia, including the Channel Country of Queensland (Blakers et al. 1984; Olsen & Doran 2002; Barrett et al. 2003; Jaensch et al. 2013) and northern South Australia (Pedler & Parkhurst 2014). Although most field guides (Morcombe 2000; Slater et al. 2000; Simpson & Day 2010; Pizzey & Knight 2012) indicate a continuous distribution between coastal and inland populations, there appears to be little evidence to corroborate this suggestion, and far inland occurrences are considered to be of dispersers from the Owl’s core coastal Queensland range (Olsen & Doran 2002). The habitats occupied by the Eastern Grass Owl in near-coastal areas typically consist of swampy and treeless grasslands containing tall dense tussocks. Heathlands and cropland such as sugar-cane fields are also occasionally used (McKean et al. 1969; Squire 1987; Maciejewski 1997). Much less information on habitat preferences from the species’ inland distribution is available, largely because of the relatively small number of records, including two reports of Grass Owls roosting in grassland from Narrabri, NSW, and Mitchell, Qld (McKean et al. 1969). In arid Australia, the Grass Owl is reported as using wetland-associated habitats containing sedges and lignum Muehlenbeckia spp. either around artificial bore drains or in floodplain country following flooding (Cox 1976; Parker 1977; Read 1995; Jaensch et al. 2013) and, much less commonly, at natural mound springs (Pedler & Parkhurst 2014). Eastern Grass Owl: use of mound springs 209 This note reports the occurrence of the Eastern Grass Owl at a natural mound spring in the Great Artesian Basin. The potential significance of these habitats for Grass Owls and the conservation challenges that they face are discussed. Observation An observation of a single Eastern Grass Owl was made at ~1250 h on 4 May 2013 at Elizabeth Springs Conservation Park, Qld (23°21′S, 140°34′E). The springs are located ~80 km south-east of Boulia in the Channel Country, and are part of the Springvale spring supergroup, which is rated as having high conservation ranking (Category 1a) based on biological values, endemicity and condition (Fensham et al. 2010). The area is located in an arid climate with an annual rainfall of ~200 mm, which is in contrast with the more mesic coastal regions where most records of the Grass Owl occur. The Eastern Grass Owl was observed after it was flushed by a feral House Cat Felis catus from sedges and grasses dominated by Smooth Flatsedge Cyperus laevigatus, Eragrostis fenshamii and sedges Fimbristylis spp. at the margin of the mound-spring wetland. It was clearly observed while in flight for ~1 minute as it circled around the mound spring. The diagnostic long, trailing legs, which protruded well beyond the tail-feathers, were clearly visible, as were the dark upperparts. The bird eventually flew over and beyond a line of trees, where it was lost from view. Discussion This observation represents the third published account of the Eastern Grass Owl using vegetation associated with natural mound springs of the Great Artesian Basin as a roost-site, and the first in Queensland. The habitat structure observed at Elizabeth Springs, which consisted of tall grasses and sedges (up to 50 cm tall) in an area subject to inundation and away from trees (Figure 1), is consistent with that described for the species in its coastal haunts (Maciejewski 1997). The other two reports of Grass Owls using mound springs come from ‘The Bubbler’ (Pedler & Parkhurst 2014) and Trinity Well mound springs (Rogers 2003) in South Australia. The presence of mound springs may serve an important function in providing very localised but permanent potential habitat for Eastern Grass Owls in an otherwise xeric region, where suitable habitat is ephemeral or non-existent. This habitat type has been further supplemented since European settlement in the form of artificial bore drains and their associated wetland vegetation. This pattern may partly explain why inland Grass Owl records away from the species’ coastal stronghold coincide with the Great Artesian Basin, of which mound springs are a unique feature. Given that there are at least 156 known active mound-spring complexes in the Great Artesian Basin (Fensham et al. 2010), these may potentially provide important refugia during unfavourable conditions, allowing the species to persist in the region during ‘bust’ periods and to ‘boom’ following favourable rains and irruptions of prey species. Other vertebrates, such as the Letter-winged 210 Australian Field Ornithology M.J. Antos & P. Dann Figure 1. Thick grass and sedge habitat at Elizabeth Springs Conservation Park, where the Eastern Grass Owl was flushed. Photo: Mark J. Antos Figure 2. Soil disturbance and damage to vegetation caused by domestic Cattle and feral Pigs at Elizabeth Springs Conservation Park. Photo: Mark J. Antos Eastern Grass Owl: use of mound springs 211 Kite Elanus scriptus and Inland Taipan Oxyuranus microlepidotus, are known to increase in numbers and expand their range in response to irruptions of native and introduced species such as the Long-haired Rat Rattus villosissimus and House Mouse Mus musculus (Menkhorst & Knight 2001; Wilson & Swan 2003; Pizzey & Knight 2012). It is likely that Grass Owls display similar patterns, with mound springs providing microhabitats that can sustain at least a small portion of the population in the region during unfavourable conditions. There is also a possibility that Grass Owls simply pulse to arid areas from coastal regions when conditions are favourable (Olsen & Doran 2002); however, there is a scarcity of records from the intervening areas between coastal strongholds and arid-zone wetlands (e.g. Higgins 1999; Olsen & Doran 2002; Barrett et al. 2003). Natural mound springs are subject to a wide range of threats, including aquifer draw-down, invasion by exotic plants, and trampling and disturbance from domestic stock and feral animals (Fensham et al. 2010). During our visit to Elizabeth Springs, we observed evidence of heavy grazing by domestic Cattle Bos spp. (despite the area being a declared Conservation Park), heavy soil disturbance by feral Pigs Sus scrofa (Figure 2), and the presence of the feral House Cat that flushed the Eastern Grass Owl. Read (1995) noted that two roosting sites used south of Lake Eyre, SA, differed from other unused but similar sites in having encircling ‘moats’, and suggested that reduced predator access may be important at roosting sites. Given the fragile nature of these features and the unique habitat that they provide, mound springs are deserving of particularly careful conservation and monitoring efforts. Not only do they provide potential habitat for species whose strongholds generally lie outside the arid regions, such as the Eastern Grass Owl and Yellow Chat Epthianura crocea, but most individual spring complexes also support their own endemic species of plants, freshwater invertebrates and fish, which are not generally found in artificial bore drains (Fensham et al. 2010). Acknowledgements We thank Russell Shawcross, Jeremy Tscharke and Mark Tscharke for providing transport and assisting with observations, and Stephen Debus for alerting us to the latest relevant literature. Rod Fensham of the Queensland Herbarium provided information on the dominant plant species associated with the mound spring wetlands at Elizabeth Springs. Two anonymous referees helped to improve the manuscript. References Barrett, G., Silcocks, A., Barry, S., Cunningham, R. & Poulter, R. (2003). The New Atlas of Australian Birds. Birds Australia, Melbourne. Blakers, M., Davies, S.J.J.F. & Reilly, P.N. (1984). The Atlas of Australian Birds. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. Cox, J.B. (1976). Grey Grasswrens and Grass Owls at Goyder’s Lagoon, South Australia. South Australian Ornithologist 27, 96–100. Fensham, R.J., Ponder, W.F. & Fairfax, R.J. (2010). Recovery Plan for the Community of Native Species Dependent on Natural Discharge of Groundwater from the Great Artesian Basin. Report to Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Canberra. Queensland Department of Environment & Resource Management, Brisbane. 212 Australian Field Ornithology M.J. Antos & P. Dann Higgins, P.J. (1999). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds, Volume 4: Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. Jaensch, R.J., Pedler, L., Carpenter, G. & Black, A. (2013). Records of the Golden-headed Cisticola, Yellow Chat, Tawny Grassbird and Eastern Grass Owl in the Channel Country following several wet years. Sunbird 43, 1–11. Maciejewski, S.E. (1997). The Grass Owl Tyto capensis in north-eastern New South Wales. In: Czechura, G. & Debus, S. (Eds). Australian Raptor Studies II, pp. 54–70. Birds Australia, Melbourne. McKean, J.L., Bywater, J. & Hall, L.
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