Hot Topic

Tipping Point for Cockatoos in Perth

Friday, 7 March 2014  | 

Key Points

  • Banksia woodlands and pine plantations on the Swan Coastal Plain are critical foraging habitat for Carnaby’s black cockatoo. Banksia woodland is being cleared for development and most pine plantations will be harvested without replacement over the next 14 years.
  • Substantial loss of feeding habitat will drive further decline of the already endangered Carnaby’s black cockatoo.

Authors: RJ Standish (Murdoch University), RJ Hobbs (UWA) and LE Valentine (UWA)

Flocks of these gregarious birds are common-place in Perth during the non- breeding season (JanuaryJuly). They are strongly evocative of the west Australian landscape and an important connection to nature for people living in the city. Yet these regular sightings hide an important truth: Carnabys black cockatoo has undergone a major decline in range and abundance since the 1960s.The bird is listed as endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Work by Dr Denis Saunders over the past 30 years and by others shows that the cockatoos have declined in response to landscape fragmentation and habitat loss in south-western Australia.

The Swan Coastal Plain (SCP) is an important foraging area for the cockatoos during their non-breeding season, where potentially a quarter of the breeding population feed in banksia woodlands and commercial pine plantations. However, a rapidly growing urban population coupled with declining rainfall is straining Perths land and water supplies.  Banksia woodland is being cleared to make way for housing and infrastructure while pines are being harvested to fulfill a commercial contract and because these trees limit groundwater recharge. Native vegetation on the SCP was 41.2 % of pre-European extent in 2006 (~549 567 ha) and ~15 389 ha was under pine in 2009.

Effective land-use planning could ensure that critical foraging habitat is retained or restored on the SCP. A mix of banksia-woodland species are suggested for the restoration of feeding habitat, along with the retention of priority banksia woodlands and some pine plantations. While restoration is undoubtedly part of the effort needed to ensure the survival of the cockatoos, it may not compensate for the ongoing loss of banksia woodland and pine. Ultimately, Carnabys black cockatoo may be left with insufficient food resources.

More on this Hot Topic:

– Link to peer-reviewed article via Austral Ecology –

If you have recently published an update on this topic, please contact the HT author for your research to be considered for addition to the evidence review.

 

Supporting Research

Title
Aims
Valentine L. E. & Stock W. (2008) Food Resources of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) in the Gnangara Sustainability Strategy study area. Unpublished report to the Forests Products Commission. Available online: http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks/6147
to review information available on the feeding activities of the cockatoo, and examine evidence for dependence on pine plantations in the study area
Finn H., Stock W., Valentine L. E. (2009) Pines and the ecology of Carnaby‘s Black-Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) in the Gnangara Sustainability Strategy Area. Unpublished report to the Forests Products Commission. Available online: http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks/6146
Learn more about ecology & abundance of Carnaby‘s Black-Cockatoos in study area & whether the removal of pine a significant threat to their survival
Cale, B. (2003) Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo (Calptorhynchus latirostris) Recovery Plan 2002 - 2012 Western Australian Wildlife Management Program No. 36 Perth, Department of Conservation and Land Management Western Australian Threatened Species and Communities Unit.
Delineate, justify and schedule management actions necessary to support the recovery threatened CBC
Saunders, D. A., (1990) Problems of survival in an extensively cultivated landscape: the case of Carnaby’s cockatoo Calytorhynchus funereus latirostris. Biological Conservation 54: 111–124.
Document the decline of CBC at survey sites across the wheatbelt from 1968 to 1987
Kabat A.P., Scott R., Kabat T.J. and Barrett G (2011) Great Cocky Count: Population estimates and identification of roost sites for the Carnaby’s Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris). Unpublished report by Birdlife Australia for the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation.
Presents the findings of the 2011 Great Cocky Count
Saunders, D. A. & Ingram, J. A. (1998) Twenty-eight years of monitoring a breeding population of Carnaby's Cockatoo. Pacific Conservation Biology 4: 261–270.
To monitor CBC at Coomallo Creek