The value of a good chat
Tue, 15 Nov 2016Until a few years ago hardly anyone had heard of the yellow chat on the Kakadu floodplains. National Park staff had so many other species to worry about
and none of the local birdwatchers took a special interest in it. At least this is what Gill Ainsworth found during her PhD on the social value of
Australia’s threatened birds.
When artist Chips Mackinolty heard Gill’s story, he wondered how he could help raise the bird’s profile. After discussions with Gill, Chips unveiled
his contribution to the chat’s conservation at the opening of an exhibition on birds and art at Charles Darwin University.
The metre-square print, based on a photo of a male chat by local birdwatcher Micha Jackson, will be sold to support Indigenous involvement in chat
research and to purchase tracking devices.
Chips was not the only person to listen to Gill’s appeals. Others were becoming aware of the scarcity of chats which, by 2014, were known reliably
from only one site supporting 27 birds. As a result, the chats were among the 20 highest priority birds listed in the National Threatened Species Strategy
and NESP funds are being deployed to support new PhD student Robin Leppitt.
“The Alligator Rivers Yellow Chat is critically understudied, despite the fact it was listed as endangered more than a decade ago,” says Robin.
“Through extensive survey and study, I plan to greatly increase the ecological knowledge of the subspecies to aid in its ongoing conservation.”
The park is also taking great interest in the birds and has been offering Robin assistance to begin his research.
A key component to the work will be Indigenous management of the floodplains. One theory is that a lack of traditional burning has reduced the patchiness
of the grasslands so big areas are now covered by only a few plant species. An early part of the work will be discussions with traditional owners of
how best to manage the chat’s habitat.
Other elements of the research will be surveys to find more birds and understand more fully their ecological requirements and studies to see how feral
pigs affect the chat’s habitat.
Photo: The endangered Yellow Chat print (on display in Palmero, Italy) by Chips Mackinolty
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Wineries for ringtails
Tue, 08 Oct 2019Properties in the Margaret River region have the opportunity to make a significant contribution to conserving the Critically Endangered Western Ringtail Possum. People don’t often think of possums as needing our help, but there are actually less western ringtail possums in the world than Bengal tigers.
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Indigenous action vital for Australia’s threatened species
Wed, 04 Sep 2019It is Threatened Species Day on 7 September. If you are a threatened species in Australia, chances are you are on Indigenous-managed land, as it is the last stronghold for many species which have been lost from the wider landscape .
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Native birds in South-eastern Australia worst affected by habitat loss
Tue, 03 Sep 2019New research has found that habitat loss is a major concern for hundreds of Australian bird species, and south-eastern Australia has been the worst affected. The Threatened Species Recovery Hub study found that half of all native bird species have each lost almost two-thirds of their natural habitat across Victoria, parts of South Australia and New South Wales.
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A Martu method for monitoring mankarr (greater bilby)
Tue, 20 Aug 2019Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ) Rangers in the Martu Determination have collaborated with Threatened Species Recovery Hub scientists to design a monitoring program for mankarr (the greater bilby). Martu people identified priorities for the bilby monitoring program, then worked with Dr Anja Skroblin from The University of Melbourne to co-develop a monitoring method which brings together Martu knowledge and practice with Western conservation science.
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Bradley J. Moggridge - TSR Hub Researcher Profile
Tue, 20 Aug 2019I am a proud Murri from the Kamilaroi Nation in north-west New South Wales. I grew up in western Sydney on Darug land and now live in Canberra on Ngunnawal land.
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