Waterbirds in : trends & conservation

Richard H. Loyn, Eco Insights

45 years of community monitoring & climatic flux

BirdLife Australia Western Port survey

This ppt modified from earlier ppt, partly based on ppts by Birgita Hansen, Peter Menkhorst, Peter Dann & RHL

BLA count sites Ranking importance of sites

Site Ranking Pioneer Bay / Stockyard Pt / GMH 1 drain Barrallier Island / NW 2 Bunyip River / Yallock Creek 3 Reef Island / Bass Bay 4 Fairhaven 5 Tortoise Head 6 Observation Point 7 Sandy Point / Hanns Inlet 8 Warneet 9 Rams Island 10 Tooradin 11 Long Island 12 Settlement Rd 13 Blue Gum Pt (French Island) 14 Dwyers Rd swamp 15 Hastings 16 17 Queensferry 18 Newhaven 19 Shorebirds

photo Danny Rogers

photo Jan van der Kam photo ChungYu Chiang East Asian-Australasian Flyway Transequatorial Migratory Shorebirds (all species)

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Many fish-eaters, e.g. Little Pied Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Australian Pelican, Crested Tern, Fairy Tern, White-faced Heron [but NOT Pied Cormorant]

Many transequatorial migratory shorebirds, e.g. Eastern Curlew, Grey-tailed Tattler, Curlew Sandpiper, Pacific Golden Plover [but NOT Red-necked Stint, the most common species]

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Abundance

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0 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 Little Pied Cormorant

LITTLE PIED CORMORANT

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GREY-TAILED TATTLER 90

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Four fish-eating birds: White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whiskered Tern and Gull-billed Tern (also Eurasian Gull-billed Tern)

Three Australasian breeding shorebirds: Pied Oystercatcher, Red-necked Avocet and Banded Stilt

One locally breeding goose: Cape Barren Goose Pied Oystercatcher

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Species showing more stability

One fish-eating species: Pied Cormorant

The most common transequatorial migratory shorebird: Red-necked Stint

One migratory shorebird that breeds in New Zealand: Double-banded Plover

One Australian-breeding shorebird: Red-capped Plover

Two locally breeding waterfowl: Black Swan & Pacific Black Duck Pied Cormorant

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Two fish-eating or other coastal species: Caspian Tern & Pacific Gull

Two transequatorial migratory shorebirds: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper & Red Knot

Some Oz-breeding shorebirds: Red-kneed Dotterel & Black-winged Stilt

Inland-breeding waterbirds, e.g.: Hoary-headed Grebe, Great Egret, Grey Teal, Musk Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Straw-necked Ibis Caspian Tern

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Rank by Mean Biomass SPECIES biomass Weight (g) biomass (kg) as % BLACK SWAN 1 5500 10857 69.1 AUSTRALIAN WHITE IBIS 2 1950 997 6.3 SILVER GULL 3 290 625 4.0 EASTERN CURLEW 4 900 555 3.5 AUSTRALIAN PELICAN 5 5400 361 2.3 CHESTNUT TEAL 6 650 301 1.9 PACIFIC GULL 7 1350 284 1.8 STRAW-NECKED IBIS 8 1300 207 1.3 AUSTRALIAN SHELDUCK 9 1450 178 1.1 ROYAL SPOONBILL 10 1650 146 0.9 PIED OYSTERCATCHER 11 700 136 0.9 Fish-eating birds at Western Port & West summer winter Fish-eating birds vs Australian Salmon CPUE Conclusions

• Many changes over 45 years, at different times

• More declines than increases

• But still a very important place!

• Some of the changes are good

• Some of the other changes can be managed

• Need to know more about inter-relationships, eg seagrass

• Community monitoring can give valuable window! Some key publications

Loyn, R.H. 1978. A survey of birds in Westernport Bay, , 1973-74 Emu 78: 11-19. Loyn, R.H., Dann, P. and Bingham, P. 1994. Ten years of waterbird counts in Western Port, Victoria. 1. Waterfowl and large wading birds. Australian Bird Watcher 15: 333-350. Dann, P., Loyn, R.H. and Bingham, P. 1994. Ten years of waterbird counts in Western Port, Victoria. 2. Waders, gulls and terns. Australian Bird Watcher 15: 351-365. Loyn, R.H., Dann, P. and McCulloch, E. 2001. Important wader sites in the East Asian-Australasian flyway: 1. Western Port, Victoria, Australia. The Stilt 38: 39-53. Heislers, A. with Loyn, R. 2003. Wings over Western Port: three decades surveying wetland birds 1973- 2003. Bird Observers Club of Australia, Melbourne. Chambers, L. and Loyn, R.H. 2006. The influence of climate on numbers of three waterbird species in Western Port, Victoria, 1973-2002. Journal of International Biometeorology 50: 292-304. Hansen B., Menkhorst P. & Loyn R. 2011. Western Port Welcomes Waterbirds: waterbird usage of Western Port. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 222. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Heidelberg, Victoria. Hansen, B., Menkhorst, P., Moloney, P. and Loyn, R. 2015. Long-term waterbird monitoring in Western Port, Victoria, reveals significant declines in multiple species. Austral Ecology 40: 513-527. doi:10.1111/aec.12219 Menkhorst, P.W., Loyn, R.H., Hansen, B, Liu, C., Mackay, M. and Dann, P. 2015. Trends in numbers of piscivorous birds in Western Port and Corner Inlet, Victoria, 1987–2012. ARI client report for Melbourne Water. Loyn, R.H. 2016. Black Swans and Seagrass in Western Port: what can each tell us about the other? Client report to Melbourne Water by Eco Insights. Acknowledgments

• BirdLife Australia & BOCA for 45 years support • Over 1000 survey participants; 10 convenors, currently Andrew Silcocks (BirdLife Australia); data curation by Laurie Living et al • Funds and support from Victorian Government, Westernport Environmental Study, Central Coastal Board (Annette Hatten), Melbourne Water (Rhys Coleman), Arthur Rylah Institute (Kim Lowe), Parks Victoria and others; local government; local industry; Port of Hastings; Commonwealth Government (Caring for Country) et al • Victorian and Australasian Wader Study Groups (Clive Minton et al) • Specific initiatives, eg Wings over Western Port (Arnis Heislers, BOCA); Western Port Welcomes Waterbirds (Birgita Hansen & Peter Menkhorst, ARI); recent project on fish-eating birds (Peter Menkhorst & Peter Dann, Nature Park); these forums (Rachael Bathgate & Rhys Coleman) • Many other people over the years, all highly valued contributions • Photos from Danny Rogers, Peter Menkhorst, Birgita Hansen et al