THREE nesting tubes have been installed at Manning Park to support the local Carnaby’s black cockatoos.
Mounted in tall trees at the popular reserve, the City of Cockburn says the tubes are designed especially for the endangered birds, mimicking an ideal nesting habitat.
There is estimated to be about 12,000 Carnaby’s in the Perth-Peel region, with their numbers declining by 10 per cent each year.
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READ NOW“The Carnaby’s black cockatoo is an endemic species that is under increasing threat from habitat destruction and development,” Cockburn Mayor Logan Howlett said.
“Large old trees with nesting hollows are being lost at an alarming rate.”
OPINION: Threat to Carnaby’s black cockatoo is real
BirdLife Australia’s Carnaby’s black cockatoo project coordinator Adam Peck talked up the area as a resting place for the threatened birds.
He said Manning Park was one of Perth’s few Carnaby’s ‘super roosts’, where many Carnaby’s black cockatoos roosted at night.
Phoenix Primary School is another.
But he said the new nesting tubes would have to be well managed.
“Carnaby’s don’t normally nest on the coastal plain, they migrate inland to the wheatbelt for this,” he said.
“The benefit for Carnaby’s is therefore less clear although there have been a few reports of nesting on the plain so this may be a thing of the future.
“If the boxes end up being used by non-endemic species then this will adversely affect local species like Carnaby’s and ringnecks.
“On the whole BirdLife encourages the installation of nest boxes if they are well managed.”
The City has installed more than 50 other nesting boxes throughout Cockburn for bats and other birds.
Aussie Bird Count
BirdLife Australia is hoping to use the success of a popular app to drum up numbers for its annual Aussie Backyard Bird Count.
The count is an annual citizen-science project used to gather information about bird life in different neighbourhoods.
Just like with the Pokemon Go craze that swept Perth, BirdLife Australia has an app people can use to record information.
Rather than be restricted by the possibility of catching 151 Pokemon, the bird group said there is more than 800 real-life species to find.
What: BirdLife Australia’s third annual Aussie Backyard Bird Count. When: October 17-23. Goal: The aim is to count 1.5 million birds during National Bird Week, making it one of Australia’s largest citizen science projects. Last year: In 2015 more than 42,000 Australians counted more than one million birds. Information: Visit www.aussiebirdcount.org.au or download the Aussie Bird Count app.