FEATURE
takes up to nine years for new saplings to become immune to the hot fires and, at the other end of the scale, the older trees which have suitable nesting hollows become more vulnerable to fire. So the old hollow trees are being burnt out whilst no new saplings are surviving to replace them. This shortage of suitable nesting hollows is having a serious effect on Gouldian population numbers due to the compounding effects of potential increased nest predation and increased nest parasitism together with competition for nesting sites from the Long-tailed Finch and feral bees. The big problem here is that even if one was able to control the widespread arson, it takes between 70 to 100 years for a tree to create suitable nesting hollows, which means that unless alternative nesting sites can be made available the decline of the Gouldian Finch would continue for decades to come. A small scale experiment was conducted to see if Gouldians would accept an artificial nest box. After a number of prototypes and a lot of trial and error, we devised a nest box which, to our delight, the Gouldians accepted. It is even fair to say they are preferred to the natural alternative! Furthermore, breeding results from our artificial nesting boxes are better than in the natural sites as we position them to minimise predation and there is no build up of nest parasites. By sealing and painting them with a reflective paint, together with judicious placing, we have also ensured they are long life and to our delight, are also fire resistant. Famously one nest box survived it’s host tree being burnt to the ground and was sat there virtually unscathed in a mound of ash!
Over 3000 nest boxes have now been installed in a number of adjacent suitable experimental sites. This has virtually eliminated competition from the Long- tailed Finch and has led to around 400% increase in the local study population. These experiments mean that we now have one of the legs for staging a recovery programme. As an ecological rule of thumb, where 90% of habitat is cleared, 50% of its species will become extinct. This means that as the pace of land clearance for agriculture, mines, housing etc increases we are losing more and more Gouldian habitat. Trying to stand in the way of economic progress is like trying to push water uphill, but why can’t we have economic development working in harmony with nature instead of against it? To this effect our scientists are working on projects with a number of mines and a major new irrigation development on the Ord River. First of all they are ecologically mapping the sites before development takes place and then advising on how best to develop the land whilst accommodating the displaced wildlife. So the concept is, where a waterhole is removed, then a replacement waterhole is created off site. Where nesting holes are destroyed then replace them with artificial ones in a local suitable site. Where land is cleared for agriculture, ensure a wide margin of untouched habitat is left around the new paddocks and ensure there is a wide corridor left for movement between the cleared sites and pristine untouched land etc, etc. We have only been doing this for 2 years and have now employed an extra scientist to control and implement this
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