ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Rechetelo, Juliana (2015) Movement, habitat requirements, nesting and foraging site selection: a case study of an endangered granivorous bird, the Black- throated finch Poephila cincta cincta in north-eastern Australia. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/46293/ The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owner of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please contact [email protected] and quote http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/46293/ Movement, habitat requirements, nesting and foraging site selection: a case study of an endangered granivorous bird, the Black-throated finch Poephila cincta cincta in north-eastern Australia Thesis submitted by Juliana Rechetelo BSc and Master of Oceanography, Universidade Federal do Paraná September 29th, 2015 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Marine and Environmental Sciences James Cook University ii A Black-throated finch southern subspecies (Poephila cincta cincta) fitted with a radio- tracking device on the Townsville Coastal Plain, Queensland, Australia. iii iv Acknowledgements I thank all the members of my supervisory team for their extremely important input into all stages of my candidature. I thank them for their important advice, for their expert opinions and suggestions and also for the patience and generosity which each of them showed me during the entire project. All contributed greatly to my personal and professional development. Prof. Dr James Moloney – James Cook University, College of Marine & Environmental Sciences, Dr Tony Grice – CSIRO, Dr Denise Hardesty – CSIRO, and Dr April Reside – James Cook University, College of Marine & Environmental Sciences. Associate Professor Peter Valentine also provided advice during the design phase of my project before he retired from James Cook University. Thank you for all the advice and encouragement and for providing me with a unique opportunity to study in Australia, learn about this unique species in this unique environment: woodland savannas of eastern Australia. I am thankful for financial support from the Black-throated Finch Trust, College of Marine & Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Tropical Landcapes Joint Venture and CSIRO. Wildlife Queensland and BirdLife Australia provided additional funding for field work, the purchase of equipment and conference attendance (Stuart Leslie Bird Research Award 2013, 2014). I thank the CSIRO Biodiversity team (Eric Vanderduys, Genevieve Perkins and Justin Perry) who also provided great support by assisting with equipment and several suggestions in relation to data collection and analyses. I thank Mike Nicholas and Brett Abbott for all their patience and dedication in teaching me to identify Australian grasses and helping with vegetation survey methods. Every chapter of this thesis involves research conducted on private and public properties. Rob Hunt, Shaun Moroney and their team, from Townsville City Council, not only provided access to public land, but also provided immensurable support and assistance in the field. They were also kind enough to report all sightings of Black- throated finches and even take me to the spots where they were seen. I am especially grateful to the landholders, who granted me access to their properties anytime and as often I needed; their support was vital to my field work but to gain their trust was the most precious thing. BirdLife Townsville members also provided incredible help by volunteering many times and also reporting sightings and nest locations. A special thanks to Ian Boyd who drove me to properties and showed me the right locations to look for Black-throated finches. I immensely thank my mentor and supervisor, April Reside, who gave me life- saving support in all stages of my candidature. April, you always had wise advice, a comforting word, expert instruction and rational arguments. All those factors, but mainly the last one, kept my sanity all the way through this candidature and I will never be able to express how thankful I am to you, particularly in the final months during the undoubtedly challenging task of writing from my home country. I thank my PhD colleague Stanley Tang for all the help during field work; we definitely had great v moments in the field, celebrating every finch caught in the net and enjoying the non-target species we captured. We also shared many afflictions not only in the field but also during our candidature; we have learnt how to keep secrets and how to face dilemmas. I am really thankful for all the help with stats, university procedures and English vocabulary. Statistical analysis is a threatening part of every PhD, at least it was for me. I could not have succeed in my analysis without the advice, help and guidance of Rhondda Jones and Chris Wilcox. They not only explained and guided me though the analyses but also managed the impossible: making me enjoy statistics! Thanks to you, my professional life will reach another level. I thank Leila Brook, Betsy Roznik, Lisa Cawthen, Kim Maute and Stephen Murphy who provided amazing technical advice. They have also helped with analysis tips and, most importantly, tips on how to catch birds in savannas. I thank all the volunteers who assisted with mist netting activities, vegetation surveys and radio tracking. Those people not only helped with the work under harsh conditions, they also made it enjoyable: Matthew McIntosh, Anne-Sophie Clerc, Melissa Wood, Melissa Applegate, Stephanie Murti, Nadiah Roslan, Jenna Donaldson, Petra Hanke, Ian Boyd and Ivor Preston. A special thanks to Coline Gauthier, a dear French intern, who made vegetation surveys enjoyable, helped me significantly in the field and in the office and brought the energy of youth much needed on those long, hot, strenuous summer days in Townsville; and to Luiz Mestre, who took 25 days of his vacation to radio track finches from dawn to dark. Paper work and bureaucracy is part of our everyday life. It could have been demanding and boring but thanks to Julie Knowlton, Rebecca Steele, Glen Connolly, Melissa Crawford, Beth Moore and Debbie Berry it was smooth and efficient. I also thank Julie Fedorniak, from JCU vehicles, who helped me many times and always cheered me up with a nice conversation. An enormous thank you to Scott and Nykky who saved my computer and my data many times. Jon Coleman kindly provided the reference letter that helped me to become an Australian authorized bander. Professor Betsy Jackes and Nanette Hooker provided wonderful help with vegetation identification. I thank them for their patience with me and, mostly, their dedication and ability to make me enjoy this hard task. David Drynan, from ABBBS, helped with the banding permits and reports. Thanks for your trust and for granting me the title ‘Australian A Class Bander’. A PhD is overwhelming by itself; you just don’t need anything else to upset you. Having a house stress-free is one of the most important things to keep your sanity. Thus, I cannot forget to thank my dear housemates who not only provided me with a nice environment in which to relax but who also were friends and supporters! Thanks Darren Coker, Owen Li, Aurelie Delisle, Coralie de Lima, Astrid Vachette, Stacy Poke and David Russell. Each one of you taught me singular things and I truly hope we will meet again. Being in a foreign country is a challenge, especially if you are alone. I have no words to thank my honorary, adopted family, Tony and Karen Grice, who provided me a safe harbour in Australia, provided emotional and psychological stability. I truly have no words to thank you for all the talks, all tears you’ve watched me cry and all advice you have given me. You are singular people, exceptional human beings and if everyone did vi half of what you do, the world would be a better place to live. You’ve made a difference in my PhD and in my life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Nothing would be achieved without the inestimable support of my parents, José Carlos Rechetelo and Marli Kubaski Rechetelo, who always supported my decisions and provided everything I needed to achieve my goals. Thanks mom, thanks dad for being my safe harbour; thanks for making my dreams, your dreams come true and thanks for working so hard to give us a better life. I also thank my brother Carlos Fabiano Rechetelo, for his support, reliability and for looking after mom and dad so I could be pursuing my ambitions half a planet away. I thank my friend and co-worker, my beloved partner Luiz Mestre for the immense psychological, intellectual and (sometimes) financial support during those years. You not only made things easier, but also made them more colorful and cheerful. We have accomplished what everyone said was impossible, a long distance relationship; over three years and half planet apart, we have made it. Love is just priceless; I cannot thank you enough. I thank friends and close family who were always supporting me and making the distance from Brazil to Australia much shorter through emails, messages and calls (Marcia Cziulik, Michelle Torres, Taiana Araujo, Katia Zuffellato and my sister in law Maria Souza). I thank the Australian and non-Australian friends who made my days happier, who shared problems, solutions and fears of a candidature, who had a smile and a comforting word: Sandra Tyrrell, Rie Hagihara, Miriam Supuma, Daniel Zeh, Louise Barnett, Joy (Nantida Sutummawong), Stewart Macdonald, Stephanie Mrozek and Christina Buelow. Finally I thank all the wallabies that provided me trails along which I could walk and follow the finches.