Managing feral cats to benefit the night parrot

Date: 12, Aug, 2021
Author(s):   James Watson, Steve Murphy, Thomas Newsome, Stephen Kearney

Feral cat predations has been highlighted as a key potential threat to the endangered night parrot. However, land managers have not yet developed effective strategies to deal with the cat threat. This project will directly assess the ranging behaviour, distribution and diet of feral cats at Pullen Pullen Reserve in order to increase our understanding of their spatial dynamics, habitat and prey preferences. A complementary study will examine if the presence of carcasses influences dingo and feral predator scavenging behaviour and whether that in turn has flow on effects to predation rates on ground nesting birds, such as the night parrot.