WesternWestern AustralianAustralian BirdBird NotesNotes Quarterly Newsletter of Birds Australia Western Australia Inc CONSERVATION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE (a division of Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union) No 107 September 2003 ISSN 1445-3983 Contents BAWA Reports p9 Notices p27 Coming Events p38 Observations p4 BAWA Projects p10 New Members p31 Crossword Answers p43 Letters to the Editors p6 Members’ Contributions p22 Country Groups p33 Opportunities for Vols p44 Book Reviews p7 What’s In a Name? p26 Excursion Reports p34 Calendar of Events p44 From the CEO’s Desk p8 Crossword p27 Observatories p36 FOUR URBAN BIRDS The Swan Coastal Plain was settled in 1829 and many of focussed both on landscape ecology as it relates to urban the birds of the Perth region have undergone striking areas and on bird surveys and the management changes in range and abundance since that time. A number implications of bird survey results in the Perth region. In of species are now extinct, or so rare as to be considered particular, we looked at the Koondoola Regional Bushland so. These include Western Long-billed Corella, Black and remnant in Koondoola in Perth's northern suburbs. The Australasian Bittern, Barking Owl and Crested Shrike-tit. participants were mostly members of community-based Some birds have declined organisations such as and are continuing to do 'Friends’ groups, or so— Western Rosella, environmental officers Splendid Fairy-wren, from local councils. Western Yellow Robin, Part of the information we Restless Flycatcher, Grey presented to workshop Shrike-thrush and Golden participants was a Whistler. comparative set of maps of Others have benefited four species of birds from from clearing for the Perth metropolitan agriculture and urban region. Our aim was development and have visually to represent some expanded their range of the bird distribution and/or abundance. These patterns that result from include the ibises, Yellow- the loss of original habitat. billed Spoonbill, Galah Typically, the and some of the fragmentation, isolation honeyeaters such as Red and progressive Wattlebird, and Singing degradation of remnant and Brown Honeyeaters. vegetation results in the decline or extinction of In May this year, Andrew some bird species, and the Huggett and Cheryl Gole The distribution of Western Yellow Robin in the Perth increase in range and/or presented a workshop for Metropolitan Region, based on Birds Australia abundance of others. Greening WA in the Skills Atlas data for the period 1998-2002. for Nature Conservation According to these data, the robin is confined to the Darling In order to show how series. The workshop Range with a single outlier on the Swan Coastal Plain. some of these patterns are The birds Western Yellow Robin is a south-west endemic that declined early in the twentieth century and was extinct in Kings Park by 1935. The map shows that the species is likely to be patchily distributed throughout the Darling Range, with a single record from the Swan Coastal Plain (Yanchep National Park). It would be interesting to know if the species is absent from all the larger coastal plain remnants on the map, or if this apparent absence is an artefact of observer effort. Although Western Thornbills and Splendid Fairy-wrens are in decline in the Perth region, Splendid Fairy-wrens survive near some wetlands and in some relatively small patches of bush. It is possible that the Western Thornbill requires larger patches of bush, and may still be disappearing from smaller remnants. The maps suggest that the Western Thornbill is less common in the Perth area than the fairy-wrens. Recently, an observer reported Western Thornbills at The distribution of Western Thornbill in the Perth Kings Park and the observation caused a flurry of emails to Metropolitan Region, based on Birds Australia Atlas circulate through BAWA, as the species was thought to be data for the period 1998-2002. extinct there. It now appears likely that the species has The species is patchily recorded across both the Darling always remained in the park. The record was of interest Range and the Swan Coastal Plain but is clearly less partly because there are no Atlas records for this species at common on the plain. Kings Park. The park is one of those areas infrequently This suggests that its status as declining surveyed by birdwatchers, as they assume that everything in this region is well deserved. is already known about such a central and well-visited spot. This interesting record shows that this isn’t so— birdwatching (and filling out Atlas survey forms) in urban manifested in the Perth region we chose four bird species. parks can provide very important information! One—Western Yellow Robin—is now almost extinct on Our map for the Singing Honeyeater indicates two the Swan Coastal Plain but is still present in the Darling interesting possibilities. One is that the bare patchy areas Range. Of the bird species known to be still declining on on the Swan Coastal Plain may well result from a lack of the plain but common in the Darling Range, we mapped surveys in those areas. The other is that the much patchier two—Splendid Fairy-wren and Western Thornbill. We also distribution in the Hills suggests that this species is much mapped the Perth region distribution of the Singing more common in developed urban areas, than in the semi- Honeyeater, a species known to have benefited from urban or forested Darling Range. clearing and urban development and now common in the Perth area. In order to create these maps, we needed reliable bird survey information for the Perth region, and we were able to use surveys from the current national bird Atlas. The maps are interesting in that they reinforce what we already know about these species but they also tell us something about where people go birdwatching! There are also some interesting gaps. The maps The maps show remnant vegetation (the shaded areas) and major roads. Each dot on each of the maps represents a single location where the species has been recorded in the national Atlas project between August 1998 and January 2003 (the limit of the data available for mapping). In the north-east, the surveys extend beyond the area covered by the vegetation mapping. The current semi-urban development of the eastern Hills area is apparent in the Western Thornbill lightly shaded, fragmented vegetation visible in that section ½ metre from Jeff’s Nose. It stayed to fossick in the of the maps. twigs for a while, Ellis Brook, 21 June 2003. Drawing by Penny Towells 2 Western Australian Bird Notes , vol 107 September 2003 The surveys Over the last few years, Birds Australia and Birds Australia WA have coordinated a number of general bird survey projects asking people to submit surveys for a number of areas, including the Perth metropolitan region. These include the national Bird Atlas and the Perth-based Suburban Bird Survey and Perth Biodiversity Project bird surveys. Cheryl has been involved with two of these projects, and finds a fairly common reaction among birdwatchers is that surveys in the Perth area are not of any interest or use as so many people do them. Observers sometimes say that they don't go anywhere 'exciting' or 'interesting' and that their local bird survey efforts might not be of particular value. One of the ‘problems’ in birdwatching—one we help to create ourselves!—is that the unusual often gets the most attention in birdwatching publications. Extremely rare birds (eg, first records for Australia or the state), vagrant species, extensions of range and unusually large numbers all vie for attention. The ordinary, everyday birds that live The distribution of Splendid Fairy-wren in the Perth in and near our backyards seem to be of little, or at least of Metropolitan Region, based on Birds Australia Atlas less, importance. This is not true! data for the period 1998-2002. The production of these maps is only possible because This species is patchily distributed across the Darling observers have contributed large numbers of bird surveys Range and Swan Coastal Plain but is much more to the Bird Atlas project. Part of the reason for reproducing commonly recorded than the Western Thornbill, partly the maps in WA Bird Notes is to encourage all observers to because of its persistence consider bird surveys in the Perth metropolitan region to be near wetlands. an important contribution to what we know about urbanising landscapes. If you live in or visit the Perth area, we encourage you to explore remnant bushland and contribute surveys to projects such as the Atlas. You can also participate in projects such as the Perth Biodiversity Project (PBP), which is currently doing intensive surveys in selected Perth reserves. Hopefully, these surveys will assist local government to manage their local reserves for biodiversity conservation. That's the practical outcome of birdwatching! Acknowledgements Blair Parsons (CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems) obligingly and skilfully drew the original maps and then reconfigured them for this article. Andrew Silcocks (Birds Australia Melbourne office) kindly extracted the Atlas data for our use. Atlassers, too many to name, contributed their time and expertise in doing the bird surveys that made this mapping exercise possible in the first place. To all, we are most grateful. Further reading How, R. and Dell, J. (1993) Vertebrate fauna of the Perth metropolitan region: consequences of a modified environment. In Urban Bush Management , (ed. M. Hipkins), pp. 28-47. (Australian Institute of Urban Studies, Perth). Recher, H. F. and Serventy, D. L. (1991) Long term The distribution of Singing Honeyeater in the Perth changes in the relative abundances of birds of Kings Metropolitan Region, based on Birds Australia Atlas Park, Perth, Western Australia.