Bruny Island Environment Network
Protecting and enhancing Bruny's special environment
A Community Forum on Dec 5th at Dennes Point provided information on the research and cat management activities planned for the next two years and discussed how the community can get involved. The work will focus on North Bruny as it is an important area in Tasmania for the threatened Eastern quoll and because of the relatively small number of feral cats present (compared to South Bruny).
Read the full report here, including the latest research and feral cat control measures.
Come along to another forum on Bruny’s water supply and the impact water supply may have on the Adventure Bay aquifer.
TasWater, along with BICA, BIEN and Kingborough Council are running the forum.
It builds upon an earlier forum held in 2019.
At the 2019 forum TasWater answered concerns and ideas arising from the community, and particularly from the Bruny Life survey. Notes from the meeting are available below.
A key part of the recovery team and BIEN’s role in helping the 40-spot survive and thrive is monitoring.
An example of the benefits of monitoring is at Inala, where Tonia and her crew watch closely what is going on in breeding season, and if potential nests become limiting to the colony, they put up new nest boxes. these are usually quickly colonised, thus expanding the colony.
Where
The recovery team is identifying sites that should be monitored, but anywhere that nest-boxes have been erected should be monitored for 40-spot activity.
Typically, sites with the oldest or most white gums will already have nest boxes and are critical for monitoring. Sites must be 200m apart.
How
The data is uploaded to BirdLife Australia and you retain a record on your phone. The recovery team will analyse the data and results will be mounted on BIEN website.
The App is free, annual membership of BirdLife Australia is~ $70 tax deductible.
White or Manna gums seem to be very rich. Insects, birds and fungus love them. The name “manna” comes from the sweet sticky exudate that forms naturally on the branches. It is this that the 40-spot prize, and even farm! Chicks and fledglings are fed this almost exclusively.
Their white, smooth bark with pendulous arching leaves unfortunately oft exhibit red and ginger stains, presaging their imminent death, as they seem sensitive to drought and plain ennui.
They can be quite small but typically are bigger and in moist environments grow to a massive forest tree. It has smooth bark, sometimes with rough bark near the base, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three or seven, white flowers and cup-shaped or hemispherical fruit.
It is typically quite a beautiful tree, relatively easily confused with Swamp gum (E. ovata) which is generally much more untidy and has green flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and conical to bell-shaped fruit.
On Bruny other potential look-alikes are white peppermint (E. pulchella – much narrower leaves that smell of peppermint) and blue gum (E. globulus – whose huge nuts that can be found under the tree, with bigger leaves and twigs).
Inside with Cats is a partnership between Kingborough Council, Ten Lives Cat Centre, Tasmanian Conservation Trust and the Bruny Island Environment Network.
This series of 5 videos introduces six Kingborough cats (along with their humans), who are embracing life on the inside. Inside with Cats is not just about containing cats inside a house, it also explores the various options these owners have used for outdoor enclosures or walking harnesses, and how they keep their cats safe, happy and healthy.
To view the videos go to this link. https://www.kingborough.tas.gov.au/2018/03/inside-with-cats/
Tiny, light olive green birds with white spots on their wings that move fast, but stick around the same area. Limited to Tasmania, some people like to call them the Tasmanian Pardalote, or even Gould’s Diamond as pardalotes are collectively known as ‘diamond birds’ because of their tiny, jewel-like appearance. The 40-spot is the dull cousin of the family.
Birds in Backyards has some information on the 40-spot, not all of which is up-to-date, and DPIPWE also has an entry.
Some people say they look a bit like moths – fasting fluttering wings – not flying very far, but quite acrobatic.
They are typically in manna or white gums (E. viminalis) or not very far away, except for the teenagers that are happy to party elsewhere for a little while after they have fledged in October – November. They typically return to the colony that they came from, but occasionally, they set up a new colony.
Their cousins are much showier – if you see a brightly colored pardalote, it is unlikely to be a 40-spot:
The calls are also very different:
The 40-spot breeds between August and December. Four to five eggs are laid with potential for a second clutch. Clutches are generally fledged by September-October. The incubation period is 16-20 days and fledging is approximately 25 days (DPIPWE, 2007).
Amongst the towering white gums on Inala, Bruny Land for Wildlife owners saw, heard and learnt about the cryptic Forty-spotted pardalotes from Dr Sally Bryant and our very own Tonia Cochran.
Hosted by BIEN, this training day marked the beginning of an exciting citizen science project that will focus initially on helping the 40-spots survive and thrive.
About 20 people from all over the island first learnt how to identify 40 spots and differentiate them from their two cousins – the Striated and the Spotted pardalotes – and also to identify the Manna or White gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) on which these little dears are completely dependent.
The 40-spots are very unusual animals in that they actually farm their food source. Close-up filming has revealed that these tiny birds use their hooked beak to wound the stalks of the Manna gum to promote manna – a sugary secretion that they eat.
Over the past 40 years, the population of the 40-spots has plummeted by 60%. Being completely dependent on Manna gum makes them very vulnerable and Manna gum is very sensitive to drought.
Huge swathes of Manna gum habitat has declined due to climate change and many former strongholds of the 40-spot are now empty of birds.
Off-shore islands now hold most of the 40-spot populations, and Bruny is of critical importance.
This is why BIEN is engaging with citizen scientists to help the birds survive and thrive.
We have reasonable ideas of where the 40-spots have been in the past, where people have put up nest boxes for them, and where people have planted white gums to encourage new colonies, and we are now asking people to monitor populations using the nest boxes and in suitable habitat.
We’ll feature here the best information about the 40-spots, how to:
Assistance is being offered to Bruny Islanders to trap stray cats on private land. By arrangement, traps can be borrowed and cats taken to the Cat Facility at Alonnah for assessment and care. We will particularly welcome help in our priority areas which include North Bruny and the Simpsons Bay, Alonnah and Adventure Bay areas.
For further information, or to loan traps please contact Kaylene Allan on 0439 885 803 or kallan@kingborough.tas.gov.au.
If you are trapping feral cats in more remote areas then Conrad Daniels from Bruny Farming (ph 0409 804 340) can assist in their management.
Please remember that there is now a ban on the feeding of stray cats. This is an important part of the Bruny Island Cat By-law. Feeding stray cats can result in dense populations of unowned cats. So if you see any stray cat, please get in touch and we can arrange to trap and assess them. This is the best way to protect their welfare and to manage their numbers and impact.
Come and learn about our sweet Forty-spotted pardalotes: how to recognise them, where and how they live, and what we can do as landowners and citizen scientists to help them survive and thrive.
Field Day: 2-5pm Wednesday 18 November at Inala , 320 Cloudy Bay Rd, South Bruny
Please register your interest here!
