Breeding boost for endangered Kangaroo Island cockatoos
Endangered glossy black cockatoos clinging on in pockets of unburned land after Kangaroo Island’s devastating bushfires have produced a small population boom, with 23 nestlings banded so far this season and up to 40 expected. See the video
An endangered KI glossy black cockatoo nestling. Photo: Kangaroo Island Landscape Board.
The Kangaroo Island Landscape Board said that the early cluster of nestlings banded by its glossy recovery team was promising for the species, which numbered only around 400.
“Initially after the Black Summer bushfires we were really worried because so much habitat had been taken out, but I’m amazed how resilient they’ve been,” said project officer Karleah Berris.
“There are quite large groups of birds persisting in these tiny patches of habitat in the west of the island. We’re also feeling really positive because we’ve had so much population growth on the eastern end in unburnt areas.”
Berris said each bird found in specially designed nest boxes was banded with individual numbers for lifetime tracking.
“When the bird is flying we can use a very good camera to zoom in and see that little number. From that, we know where it’s come from and can decipher how far it moves, where it resides as an adult, and where it breeds as an adult,” she said.
“We’ve still got birds out there that were banded in the late 1990s when this banding program started. They are still around and still breeding. We did spot a 25-year-old bird last year and that’s one of the oldest banded. He’s still out there and healthy and getting around with his flock.”
Berris said the species’ local recovery over 25 years was “spectacular” but the bushfires had destroyed swathes of their only food source.
“There were 158 birds in 1995 and our last count was well over 400,” she said.
“That’s been achieved through ongoing management and protection of nests to keep those nestlings coming through. However, population growth has waned in recent years, likely due to large areas of drooping sheoak (trees) being burnt during the 2019-20 fires.
“These birds only eat drooping sheoaks seeds which are really important to protect. Since the fires we’ve planted almost 25,000 sheoaks across the island. That’s about 50 hectares of additional sheoak out there. They only take about 8-10 years to start producing seed so the future is looking brighter.”
[solstice_jwplayer mediaid=”8NGA9UxR” title=”VIDEO: KI glossy black cockatoo recovery” caption=”Supplied: Kangaroo Island Landscape Board” /]
