October 8 - 14, 2023: Issue 600

 

Return of Australasian Figbird Pair: A Reason to Keep the trees - Aussie Bird Count 2023

Each Spring this pair of Australasian Figbirds(Sphecotheres vieilloti) returns to build a nest and make babies in the Norfolk pine alongside us. There is food in our garden for them and no cats, at least none that can get that high up.



Their fast chirrups and calls are a delightful and welcome annual return and they are listed in BirdLife Australia's 'Top 40 Bird Songs' which lists the most curious or distinctive bird calls in urban areas (mostly around Sydney).

Figbirds are part of a worldwide family that includes the orioles, of which Australia has two other members (the Yellow and Olive-backed Orioles). The Australasian figbird has a total length of 27.0–29.5 cm and a body mass of around 111 to 130 grams.

Males have bare, red skin around the eye, contrasting against a black crown and grey neck and throat. The remainder of the body is olive-green, except for a white under-tail area.  There are two distinct colour forms of the males of this species. Males north of Proserpine in Queensland have a yellow front.



Females have grey skin around the eye and lack distinctive head markings. They are brown-green above and dull-white below, streaked with brown. Both sexes have a blackish bill. 



The Figbird occurs across coastal regions of northern and eastern Australia from the Kimberley region in Western Australia around to the New South Wales/Victoria border. They live in rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests, but are often found in urban parks and gardens, particularly those with figs and other fruit-producing trees

Figbirds are commonly encountered in city parks that contain fig trees, and will often visit orchards and gardens that have leafy trees and berry-producing plants. Fruiting canopy trees, particularly figs, are essential components of the environment of Figbirds.  

The nest is cup-shaped and built of vine tendrils and twigs. It is supported by its rim from the horizontal fork of an outer branch of the canopy, up to 20 m above the ground. Both males and females incubate the eggs and feed the young. The clutch of two to four eggs typically hatches after 16–17 days.

Unlike most orioles, Australasian figbirds are gregarious, often forming flocks of 20 to 40 birds during the nonbreeding season, and even breeding in small, loose colonies.

However, they are not the only birds that turn up from elsewhere during the end of September and beginning of October. BirdLife Australia advises birds to look out for in October, especially those returning in our Spring, are:

  • Dollarbirds in south-eastern Australia
  • Channel-billed Cuckoos to the Top End
  • Flocks of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows in southern Australia
  • Dollarbirds arriving back in the Kimberley Region of WA
  • Oriental Pratincoles in northern Australia
  • Return of Fork-tailed Swifts to northern Australia
  • Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes arriving back in Tasmania
  • Migratory shorebirds returning to southern Australia

On Friday October 6 BirdLife Australia announced the Bird of the Year. 

BirdLife Australia works with the Guardian to develop a list of birds, including some that are getting particular coverage to showcase conservation issues. 

The competition kicked off on Monday 25 September with a lineup of 50 Australian native birds.  The bottom five birds are eliminated at the end of each weekday, with everyone able to vote again in the next round each day. The final 10 birds were voted on on Thursday the 5th.

This year BirdLife Australia has announced, with a grand total of 11,171 votes, the Critically Endangered Swift Parrot is the winner of the 2023 BirdLife Australia X Guardian Australia Bird of the Year competition – the first time Swifties have taken out the title.

The much-loved Tawny Frogmouth once again finished in second place despite leading for much of the competition. With 10,729 votes, it’s the Tawny’s third time in a row as runner-up! In third place is the Endangered Gang-gang Cockatoo with 7,190 votes.

The Critically Endangered Swift Parrot is one of only three species of migratory parrots in the world.

Twice a year, these remarkable birds brave crossing one of the world’s most dangerous bodies of water – Bass Strait – as they migrate from their Tasmanian breeding grounds to the mainland to feed on flowering gums and lerp in south-eastern Australia, including in Pittwater according to listings compiled by Pittwater Council for our bush reserves and suburbs.  They arrive in Tasmania during September and return to south-eastern Australia during March and April.

With fewer than 750 birds left in the wild, this years' winner is a win for threatened species everywhere.

But it’s also an important reminder of what we stand to lose. Sadly, Swifties are rushing towards extinction – threatened by habitat destruction and predation by introduced Sugar Gliders in Tasmania. Still, logging of their forest habitat continues in NSW and Tasmania – and experts predict that fewer than 100 birds will remain by 2031 if their current rate of decline continues.

“We are watching extinction in real time for the Swift Parrot.” ‒Samantha Vine, BirdLife Australia’s Head of Conservation and Science

Alongside the Regent Honeyeater, the Swift Parrot has long been the face of woodland bird conservation in south-eastern Australia – and for decades, BirdLife Australia has been working closely with this Critically Endangered species to help their population recover. They are dedicated to preventing their extinction – campaigning against logging in Swift Parrot habitat on both sides of Bass Strait, tracking their mainland movements, filling knowledge gaps critical to their conservation and more.

It's not just logging that's compounding the problem. Revelations on the same day, October 6, that Swift Parrots have been recorded near the Boggabri open cut coal mine in the Leard State Forest near Narrabri - the second year in a row the parrots have been detected by the mining company - has prompted calls for action from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. 

Idemitsu has approval to continue clearing Leard State Forest, but while its approval requires it to survey every year for Swift Parrots, it requires no action to be taken if the rare birds are found. 

Further, Idemitsu subsidiary Boggabri Coal is awaiting an outcome from the NSW Planning Department for its planned modification 8, which would require more habitat clearing.  The Boggabri MOD 8 is the first new coal expansion likely to be determined by the new Labor government in NSW.

BirdLife Australia spokesperson Mick Roderick said, “Swift Parrots are on a fast track to extinction within the next 10 years if we continue with business as usual. Protecting the places where they are known to feed and congregate, such as the area in and around Leard State Forest, is not only important for individual birds, it is critical to the survival of the whole species.

“This is just another example of death by a thousand cuts because Australia’s national nature laws are weak, outdated and are failing to protect threatened birds and the places they live.

“These same national nature laws are being rewritten for the first time in 20 years but will need broad political support to deliver the reforms that nature needs. BirdLife is asking bird lovers to contact their Federal Members of Parliament and urge them to support new laws that will genuinely protect and restore special places like the Leard State Forest forever.”


Swift Parrot visiting Canberra. Photo: Gunjan Pandey 

Tawnies are common and widespread across the country, but face growing threats like habitat clearing and poisoning from rodenticides.


Tawny in Kevin and Glenys Murray backyard. Photo: Kevin Murray

In this LGA 103 Tawny Frogmouths have been rescued and 29 released in the June 2020 to June 2021 period. Collisions with motor vehicles and ‘unsuitable environment’ are listed as the primary reasons for the birds coming into care. Disease, listed as an ‘internal parasite’ is also listed. 

Tawny frogmouths will often perch at the sides of roads where streetlights attract moths. Another reason to slow down on our local roads.

The tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is a species of frogmouth native to the Australian mainland and Tasmania and found throughout. It is a big-headed, stocky bird, often mistaken for an owl, due to its nocturnal habits and similar colouring, and sometimes, at least archaically, referred to as mopoke, a name also used for the Australian boobook, the call of which is often confused with that of the tawny frogmouth.

Tawny frogmouths are carnivorous and are considered to be among Australia's most effective pest-control birds, as their diet consists largely of species regarded as vermin or pests in houses, farms, and gardens. The bulk of their diet is composed of large nocturnal insects, such as moths, as well as spiders, worms, slugs, and snails but also includes a variety of bugs, beetles, wasps, ants, centipedes, millipedes, and scorpions. Large numbers of invertebrates are consumed to make up sufficient biomass, as are reptiles and frogs, and birds.

The conservation status of tawny frogmouths is "least concern" due to their widespread distribution. However, a number of ongoing threats to the health of the population are known. Many bird and mammalian carnivores are known to prey upon the tawny frogmouth. Native birds, including ravens, butcherbirds, and currawongs, may attempt to steal the protein-rich eggs to feed their own young. Birds of prey such as hobbies and falcons, as well as rodents and tree-climbing snakes, also cause major damage to the clutches by taking eggs and nestlings. In subtropical areas where food is available throughout the year, tawny frogmouths sometimes start brooding earlier in winter to avoid the awakening of snakes after brumation. Since 1998, a cluster of cases of neurological disease has occurred in tawny frogmouths in the Sydney area, caused by the parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a rat lungworm.

The much-loved Gang-gang Cockatoo is the bird emblem of the ACT and is well-known for its distinctive creaky call. Males are unmistakeable with their wispy red crests and faces, while both sexes have slate grey bodies and barred plumage.

While they’re found across much of south-eastern Australia, these small and charismatic cockies are in trouble. Their population has declined by 70% in the last few decades alone – and Gang-gangs were recently uplisted to nationally Endangered after the Black Summer bushfires burnt 30% of their habitat.

In the summer months, Gang-gangs move to higher elevations to breed and nest in tree hollows in tall mountain forests and woodlands. They flock to warmer lowland areas and suburban gardens in winter, where they feast on the seeds of native and introduced trees and shrubs, especially eucalypts, wattles and hawthorn berries.

Gang-gangs are the least studied of Australia’s cockatoo species, which is why participants in BirdLife's free, online Gang-gang Cockatoo Edu-Action course learn how to collect important data on Gang-gangs across their range – while developing their own Action Plan to help their local Gang-gang population recover. 

If you loved the Bird of the Year poll, we think you’ll love our Aussie Bird Count! Join in the fun from 16‒22 October by registering as a counter today. 

That way you can join in helping look after our resident and visiting birds whether you spot them on the beach, in the wetlands or on the estuary shores, high up in a tree, or see some of the ground dwelling birds who live in our area too simply by recording 'they're still here!'. 

These records could finally inspire some action from local, state and federal governments to not just list them and their habitat as protected but actually do something via those same laws to protect them. Our local, state and national governments need to put more ranger boots on the ground with a mandate to fine and prosecute, and government's need to tell habitat loggers and coal mine expansionists that it is way too late to keep causing the extinction of species for a few dollars more.

The great Aussie Bird Count takes place 16–22 October for 2023. You can get involved here: aussiebirdcount.org.au


Two immature Gang-gangs at New Buildings, NSW, Australia: The male is on the left and the female on the right. Photo: David Cook Wildlife Photography 

Info: BirdLife Australia

Australasian Figbirds photos: A J Guesdon, taken October 7, 2023

Critically Endangered Swift Parrot Detection Near NSW Boggabri Coal Mine Sites

October 6, 2023
Revelations Idemitsu detected 21 critically endangered Swift Parrots near its Boggabri open cut coal mine in the Leard State Forest near Narrabri - the second year in a row the parrots have been detected by the mining company - has prompted calls for action from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. 

This year's detection of the parrots was noted in the August Boggabri Coal Community Consultation Committee minutes, while the previous year’s was included in the mine’s Annual Review submitted to the NSW Department of Planning. 

Boggabri Coal’s latest EPBC Act compliance report shows the federal department charged with monitoring compliance may be unaware the critically endangered parrots have been detected twice in two years, as it has not “requested species and ecological survey data to date”. 

Advocates are now calling on the Albanese Government to ensure that all habitat for critically endangered species is protected from clearing as part of its EPBC Act reforms and for Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to amend the conditions of the Boggabri coal mine to prevent further clearing of Swift Parrot habitat.

They state the discovery is new information which shows that Leard State Forest is an important foraging area for Swift Parrots, and that the discovery highlights the need for the remaining forest to be protected from further clearing for coal mining.

Idemitsu has approval to continue clearing Leard State Forest and while its approval requires it to survey every year for Swift Parrots, it requires no action to be taken if the rare birds are found. 

BirdLife Australia spokesperson Mick Roderick said, “Swift Parrots are on a fast track to extinction within the next 10 years if we continue with business as usual. Protecting the places where they are known to feed and congregate, such as the area in and around Leard State Forest, is not only important for individual birds, it is critical to the survival of the whole species.

“This is just another example of death by a thousand cuts because Australia’s national nature laws are weak, outdated and are failing to protect threatened birds and the places they live.

“These same national nature laws are being rewritten for the first time in 20 years but will need broad political support to deliver the reforms that nature needs. BirdLife is asking bird lovers to contact their Federal Members of Parliament and urge them to support new laws that will genuinely protect and restore special places like the Leard State Forest forever.”

Lock the Gate Alliance Head of Research and Investigations Georgina Woods said, “This extraordinary situation has exposed the urgent need to overhaul Australia’s environment laws. Idemitsu has cleared vast swathes of an irreplaceable forest. It’s required to search for Swift Parrots, but is under no obligation to stop clearing their habitat if it finds them.

“The discovery of critically endangered birds should bring clearing activity at the mine to an immediate halt.

“Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek needs to alter the conditions of the Boggabri coal mine to prevent further clearing of Swift parrot habitat. She needs to ensure that when Australia’s environment laws are overhauled, there is a clear prohibition on clearing any habitat for critically endangered species.

“The Albanese Government’s EPBC Act reforms must ensure we identify and protect all remaining habitat for critically endangered species like the Swift Parrot.

“The significance of Leard State Forest to the Swift Parrot should also put a stop to proposed coal mine expansion plans by not only Idemitsu, but also Whitehaven, in the forest.”

Idemitsu subsidiary Boggabri Coal is awaiting an outcome from the NSW Planning Department for its planned modification 8, which would require more habitat clearing.

Whitehaven Coal plans to expand its Maules Creek coal mine, also located in the Leard State Forest.

On September 28 2023 Lock the Gate stated that this was the same Boggabri mine that faced enforcement action after illegally taking water could be the first coal project in the state to be given approval to expand under the new Labor Government, despite continuing to rely on water from the same source in breach of its existing approvals.

Lock the Gate Alliance last week wrote an urgent letter to the government highlighting how Idemitsu intends to continue relying on water from what’s known as the Bluevale Water Source for its Boggabri Coal mine “modification eight”.

Three months ago, the Natural Resources Access Regulator entered into an “enforceable undertaking" with Idemitsu after the company was found to have stolen more than 500 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water from the Bluevale Water Source during the last drought.

In the very week this undertaking was signed, Idemitsu submitted documentation for its expansion plan which claimed that historically the company “has been able to obtain adequate water entitlements for its operations”. 

Lock the Gate’s letter accuses the NSW Planning Department of failing to remedy this, and highlights how Idemitsu explicitly plans to continue using water from the Bluevale Water Source for its expansion and does not have sufficient water licences to cover its demand in drought conditions.

The Planning Department is expected to make a decision regarding the Boggabri coal mine modification eight project any day now. If approved, it would give Idemitsu permission to dig deeper into the coal seams, allowing it to operate until 2036. The modification would be responsible for 63 million tonnes of CO2-e (see page 3).

Because it is classed as a “modification”, the decision on whether or not to approve the project will be made by a Department of Planning official without any involvement of the Independent Planning Commission.

Lock the Gate Alliance research coordinator Georgina Woods said, “The Minns Government needs to pull the Department of Planning into line before it recklessly grants approval to Idemitsu to mine deeper, for longer, at Boggabri. 

“This mine has been operating in breach of its consent conditions for years and clearly will not be able to lawfully cover its water demand in the next awful drought.

“The Minns Government has not reviewed or fixed the flawed coal mining policies of the former State Government. This means the Boggabri modification is almost guaranteed to be given the go ahead by the department with no independent process, despite its impact on water resources and climate change.

“Rural and regional communities cannot afford the Minns Government to follow business as usual for water-guzzling, climate-wrecking coal mine expansions. To reset means urgently overhauling the policies that let projects like this sail through unscrutinised."

Background:

Advice from the water division of the Department of Planning warned (twice) that Idemitsu may not be able to obtain legal entitlement to use water captured on site from the Bluevale Water Source catchment - the very offence for which it has recently been sanctioned. 

The Minns Labor Government has not made any changes to policy settings that facilitated 26 new fossil fuel projects approved in NSW by the former Coalition Government since the Paris Agreement, despite promising that planning processes would be fully independent.

Boggabri MOD 8 is the first new coal expansion likely to be determined by the new Labor government in NSW. It’s the first of at least 10 new coal expansions making their way through the NSW planning system. If all are approved these expansions would constitute a major acceleration in the approval of new coal mining capacity in NSW.