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Newsletter #67 November 2007

Underwood needs your help (again!!!)

Western spinebill in Underwood Bushland - Photo Marg Owen

The EPA has approved the UWA proposal to subdivide the bushland (EPA Bulletin 1272). This decision is now subject to appeal, and then goes to the Minister (David Templeman) for a final decision.

We were in a similar situation in 2003 (Bulletin 1099), and with public support in the form of lots of letters to the Appeals Convenor, and even more letters to the Minister (Judy Edwards), we were successful in convincing the Minister to reject the proposal.

So, we need lots of letters again! The address for sending both your letter and your appeal is the same; it goes to David Templeman, Minister for the Environment, 77 St Georges Tce Perth 6000.

Appeals must be lodged before Monday the 12th of November. If you are lodging an appeal, address it to 'Appeals Convenor' and attach a cheque for $10 (payable to 'Appeals Convenor'). Refer to EPA bulletin 1272. Visit the website of the Appeals Convenor for more information and the appeals form.

In our appeal we are arguing that the EPA has not performed any assessment of the environmental impacts of the proposal, and has ignored the advice of its own experts in taking at face value the flawed and inaccurate claims by the developer that the proposal will not have any adverse environmental impacts.

Bird Banding at Shenton Bushland

by Rob Davis, Birds Australia

I have been undertaking a bird banding project in Shenton Bushland since 2003. Banding simply involves placing an individually numbered, lightweight metal band on the leg of a bird. Colour bands are also used to follow individuals from a distance. Information on bird banding can be found here.

My project has now extended to cover seven sites. The primary objective of this study is to learn about the movement of bushland-dependent bird species through urban landscapes. This will inform us about how urban development affects birds and how we can design urban landscapes to conserve native birds. Some of this work is being undertaken through the University of Western Australia and the rest by qualified banders in their own time.

I have been colour-banding a number of species including White-cheeked Honeyeaters, Variegated Fairy-wrens, Rufous Whistlers and Western Spinebills, and have used the following colours: red, yellow, white, orange, purple, light green, dark blue. White is the Shenton Bushland colour. So if you are bird-watching in the western suburbs or anywhere around Perth and come across a colour-banded bird, you could make a very important contribution to science and conservation. Please record the band colour, species, location, date and time and pass the details on to me.

Work so far in Shenton Bushland has had a number of exciting finds. The biggest highlight was the capture of two birds on October 18th. One was a Brown Honeyeater wearing the distinctive yellow colour band assigned to Herdsman Lake. The other was a male Rufous Whistler with a metal band number I did not recognise. Subsequent investigation showed that this was also a Herdsman Lake bird! These are very exciting and very rare records and show the ability of these species to move through the urban matrix and highlight how they have targeted bushland areas. Recaptures of banded birds at Shenton Bushland have also produced some interesting longevity records with a 5 year old Silvereye, Rufous Whistler and Yellow-rumped Thornbill. A six-year old White-cheeked Honeyeater was also recaptured.

If you see a bird with coloured bands on it's legs, please report it to me via email rob@graduate.uwa.edu.au or phone 6488 1361. If you find any birds dead or injured with standard metal leg bands please either remove the band or record its number carefully and contact the Department of Environment and Water Resources: The Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS)_: GPO Box 8_Canberra ACT 2601, Telephone: (02) 6274 2407_, Facsimile: (02) 6274 2455_, Email: abbbs@deh.gov.au

Details of reporting recoveries and an online form can be found here.

Next Meeting

Our scheduled committee meetings for this year is Sunday afternoon 4pm in the bushland on Sunday 18th November.

We will continue to meet for our regular bushland activities on Sunday afternoons (3-5pm) - will review this during summer if it gets too hot.

I will bring muffins, tea, coffee, a thermos of hot water and misk. BRING YOUR OWN CHAIRS!

Contact Dani (9381 3470 or Dani's email for details.