King Island Natural Resource Management Group

Recovery of Threatened Forest Birds of King Island

The Project: Overview, Summary, Details, Objectives, Activities

The Birds:
Scrubtit (King Island) endangered critically endangered
Brown Thornbill (King Island) endangered endangered
Green Rosella (King Island) vulnerable not listed yet
Yellow Wattlebird (King Island) not listed yet
Black Currawong not listed yet
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Project Overview
This project, running from November 2003 to November 2004 has been made possible through the contribution and financial support of the Threatened Species Network Community Grants Program as a joint initiative of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Australia and the Australian Government's Natural Heritage Trust.

The Threatened Birds project is the brainchild of bird ecologist and conservation enthusiast, Richard Donaghey. Richard has done many weeks of volunteer and Bushcare / Land for Wildlife work for King Island already. He was the editor and major contributor to The Fauna of King Island. A guide to identification and conservation management (2003).
Richard is the technical consultant for this project, and as such has visited the island twice, and contributed several weeks of his time since the project began.
We must express our gratitude to Richard, and also to the many other volunteers on this project. Thank you!!

Project summary
King Island has a high proportion of threatened and declining forest birds, especially those that depend on tree-hollows for nesting. The three listed endemic species are the critically endangered Scrubtit, the endangered Brown Thornbill and the vulnerable Green Rosella. This project will provide the King Island community Threatened Bird Network with the skills and techniques to monitor population size and protect critical habitat of threatened species.

Project details
King Island in western Bass Strait once had extensive Tasmanian blue gum forest but now has lost about 70% of its native vegetation through clearance for agriculture and fires. Only about 5% of the original Tall swamp paperbark forest and Tasmanian blue gum forest remain. Many King Islanders have fostered a conservation ethic and although they have fenced off and protected large amounts of remaining forest and streams, many forest birds are threatened and declining.
The 2000 Action Plan for Australian Birds (APAB) identified 7 threatened bird species on King Island that need an integrated conservation plan. Five of these taxa are endemic to KI. Two of these, the Scrubtit and Brown Thornbill, are listed nationally and in Tasmania as endangered. The Green Rosella (KI) is listed as vulnerable in Tas. Recent fieldwork on KI has identified many other birds in decline including hollow-dependent birds such as Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Southern Boobook and Striated Pardalote.
The primary focus of this project is to recover the listed threatened birds with community action. The critical habitat for the endemic Scrubtit (KI) is the Nook Swamp, Lavinia State Reserve. Recent surveys failed to find Scrubtit at any of the other localities mentioned in the APAB. The good news is that Scrubtit have survived in the Nook Swamp paperbarks despite recent large scale burning of the surrounding landscape. There is an urgent need to determine the population size of the Scrubtit in Lavinia SR and search for another population at other sites in the south of the island. The endangered Brown Thornbill (KI) has been observed recently at Pegarah SF so the population size needs to be determined and its habitat secured. The vulnerable Green Rosella is one of a suite of species that depends on old growth eucalypts with tree-hollows for nesting. The small brown endangered Scrubtit and Brown Thornbill are inconspicuous and restricted in distribution. By comparison the conspicuous and widespread Green Rosella can be used as an umbrella species for all hollow-dependent birds.

Objectives
Administer a KI Threatened Bird Network to coordinate species recovery
Produce and distribute brochures on KI threatened birds to all KI landholders and urban residents
Train volunteers in threatened species identification and bird monitoring techniques and reporting
Determine population size of critically endangered Scrubtit, endangered Brown Thornbill and vulnerable Green Rosella and secure habitat.
Identify and protect nest-trees with hollows of Green Rosella and monitor nesting success.
Erect, manage and monitor nest-boxes for Green Rosella and monitor nesting success.

Activities of the Threatened Bird project
We have 37 members in the Threatened Species Network so far, and growing.
Activities have included:

One of the threats to hollow-nesting birds is the European starling. To obtain a design for a starling trap, contact King Island NRM Group.
The brochure Are we losing our native birds on King Island? contains further details of this project.
For more information see newsletters, maps and articles produced by this project.

Threatened species and/or ecological communities involved: Status under state law (if known) Status under national law (in the schedules of the EPBC Act).
Scrubtit (King Island) endangered critically endangered
Brown Thornbill (King Island) endangered endangered
Green Rosella (King Island) vulnerable not listed yet
Yellow Wattlebird (King Island) not listed yet
Black Currawong not listed yet

Length: 32-38 cm
Identification: A blue-cheeked rosella with red forehead; yellow head and underparts; dark green back with black mottling; shoulder, leading edge of wing and tail blue. Male: Brighter yellow. Female: Greener, duller.
Habits: Pairs, autumn-winter flocks. Forages for seeds, flowers, fruit at all levels from ground to canopy of tall eucalypts. Strong, fast flight.
Habitat: Dry and wet eucalypt forests, King Island scrub, shelterbelts, homestead gardens.
Nests in tree-hollows. In absence of tree-hollows nests in disused buildings and concealed forks of tree trunks.
Range and Status: Occurs throughout King Island, particularly in forests in centre, south-east and south. Uncommon 40 years ago but now more common breeding resident. The King Island subspecies is Vulnerable (3).
Special Management: Monitor population size. Protect, manage and restore eucalypt forest to provide present and future tree-hollows and cavities. Erect nest-boxes.

Yellow Wattlebird
Anthochaera paradoxa kingi

Length: 37-45 cm
Identification: Australia's largest honeyeater. Greyish with prominent dark streaks on underbody; diagnostic long, pendulous yellow-orange wattles, bright yellow belly and long tail, tipped white.
Habits: Singles, pairs, flocks. Harsh voice. Forages for mostly nectar but also fruit and invertebrates in eucalypt forests, scrub and heathlands.
Habitat: King Island blue gum forests and woodlands with white gum and Brooker's gum; King Island scrub and heath with banksia; homestead and urban gardens.
Nests in forks of trees and tall shrubs.
Range and Status: Widespread, particularly in the east and south. Uncommon by the 1960's following extensive wildfires and clearance of forests for agriculture, especially in the first half of the 20th century. Probably more widespread in the last 40 years of the 20th century as a result of maturation of regrowth eucalypts and protection of native vegetation. Population recovery threatened by projected clearance of scrub and heath and uncontrolled wildfires.
Uncommon breeding resident and endemic subspecies.
Conservation status Vulnerable on basis of population size and habitat occupied (3).
Special Management: Monitor population size and distribution. Protect and enlarge remnant bush, especially eucalypt forests and woodlands

Scrubtit
Acanthornis magnus greenianus
.
The critically endangered King Island Scrubtit is an active, small brown bird, 11-12 cm long. It has a prominent cream throat and breast; buff flanks; grey cheeks; cream eye; two white wing bars at bend of wing. It is similar to the Tasmanian scrubwren, but more slender, and with the above characteristics. Also similar to the Tasmanian thornbill, but this bird has white 'underpants' instead of throat. The scrubtit is also distinguishable by its habit of foraging for insects up tree trunks like a tree creeper.
It is estimated there are less than 200 Scrubtit on King Island so they could go extinct due to catastrophic events like bushfires and disease epidemics. The King Island Scrubtit, a race of the endemic Tasmanian Scrubtit, is only found on King Island.
This bird favours paperbark swamps. The Nook Swamps, the largest stand of paperbarks on the island, is the only site where Scrubtit have been seen in recent years. Scrubtit are not an easy bird to identify from other small brown birds.
Twelve people came to a training field day at the Nook Swamps and we saw 6 Scrubtit that day. For 4 days we explored the Nook Swamps and counted Scrubtit. This was a big challenge because not only are Scrubtit very active small birds but also their swamp habitat is full of fallen trees and nettles and not easy to navigate through. We only covered a small area of the Swamps but over the 4 days we saw 20 Scrubtit including family parties with adults and dependant young. It has been estimated that there are 50 Scrubtit in the Nook Swamps but 100 birds is not unlikely.
More than 40 years ago Scrubtit were recorded at Pass River and Pegarah State Forest. We didn't find any this time but the habitat still seems suitable, though not as extensive as in the past.
It was very exciting to discover Scrubtit for the first time at Colliers Swamp, the second largest patch of paperbark swamp forest on King Island.
Exploratory searches confirmed that the Nook Swamps is the major habitat for Scrubtit on King Island. It is very important to protect these forests from fire. It is also very comforting to discover Scrubtit at Colliers Swamp. This swamp is not as large as the Nook Swamps but for a small bird facing extinction this is like 'life insurance'.

Brown Thornbill
Acanthiza pusilla archibaldi

Other name: King Island brown thornbill
Length: 10 cm
Identification: Sexes alike. Olive-brown upperbody with diagnostic olive-buff flanks; greyish undertail and bold blackish streaks on grey throat and breast. Red eye.
Similar species: Common Tasmanian thornbill has white flanks and undertail.
Habits: Singles, pairs. Actively forages for insects in ground layer vegetation, understorey shrubs and small trees.
Habitat: Drier wet scrub and eucalypt woodland with Leptospermum scoparium at Pegarah State Forest, open farmland at Loorana.
Probably nests on ground or in low understorey vegetation like the brown thornbill on the Tasmanian mainland.
Range and Status: Very restricted range. Recorded in Pegarah State Forest in 1968 and at Loorana in 1971. Thought to be extinct but recently one bird seen in 2001-02 at Pegarah State Forest.
Conservation status: Critically Endangered (3).
Special Management: Continue to search for birds at Pegarah State Forest and nearby to confirm presence and attempt to determine population size.

Black Currawong
Strepera fuliginosa colei

Length: 47-49 cm
Identification: Familiar large, black bird with massive, black bill; bright yellow eye and white tips to wings and tail.
Habits: Singles, pairs, winter flocks. Omnivorous diet of fruit, insects, carrion and small vertebrates. Forages on beaches amongst seaweed and on ground in pastures and forests. Forages on branches and in foliage. Distinctive voice.
Habitat: Wet and dry eucalypt forest and woodland, paperbark and blackwood swamp forest, coastal heath and scrub, beaches, pastures, homestead gardens.
Builds large stick nest in forks of paperbark, blackwood and eucalypt trees.
Range and Status: Widespread but patchily distributed. Range has contracted in recent decades. King Island population is an endemic subspecies. Considered locally common in 1960's with winter flocks of 150. Population in decline. An uncommon to rare breeding resident. Conservation status Vulnerable (3).
Special Management: Monitor population in winter to determine population size and winter habitat. Monitor population in spring-summer to determine density of breeding pairs and breeding habitat and location. Study breeding ecology of forest raven and interactions with black currawong where they coexist.

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Calyptorhynchus funereus

Length: 55-65 cm
Identification: Unmistakable, large black cockatoo with large yellow panel in long tail and yellow ear patch. Male: Bill blackish and eye-ring reddish-pink. Female: Bill whitish, eye-ring grey and brighter yellow ear-patch.
Habits: Pairs, family trios, flocks of up to 50 or more in autumn-winter. Forages at all levels of vegetation from ground to tree canopy. Feeds on seeds and extracts wood-boring insect larvae by ripping open branches and trunks of trees. Flies with slow flapping flight. Twists and glides through trees exposing yellow tail panel.
Habitat: Dry and wet eucalypt forest, King Island scrub, coastal heath, exotic conifer plantations and shelter. Extracts seeds of Allocasuarina and Banksia in scrub and heath and seeds from cones of Pinus radiata.
Nests in large, deep, often vertical, hollows in trunks of large, old trees.
Range and Status: Widespread. Uncommon breeding resident. High conservation status. King Island population may be declining.
Special Management: Monitor size, age and sex of population in autumn-winter. Erect nest-boxes.