Bush Heritage Australia to protect vital piece of Murray-Darling Basin ecosystem
Leading conservation not-for-profit Bush Heritage Australia to protect a property that forms one of the most important waterbird breeding sites in Australia.
When Lola Lange presents her research on the Pink Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri), she always delivers one jaw-dropping statement: there has been no research to date on the bird in Queensland… barely anything is known about the species.
It's shocking because the Pink Cockatoo, with its distinctive bright red, yellow and white crest and its glorious pink wingspan, is an iconic, Galah-like bird in Australian landscapes. But more so, because in 2023 it was added to the national threatened species list.
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Pink Cockatoos at Naree. Photo David and Sue Akers.
Now, the race is on to find out more about this bird so that we can continue to see it in our skies and by our favourite waterholes.
Lola is a Master’s student at Queensland University of Technology. She’s using bioacoustics to listen to the Pink Cockatoos’ vocal behaviours at sites across Queensland and New South Wales in partnership with conservation groups, including Bush Heritage. “We are trying to understand what vegetation and what habitats they use, and how changes in rainfall and temperature affect their activity,” she says.
One major part of her research is a spatial study.
She has 26 acoustic sensors set up at Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, run by our peers the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. One of the things she observed here was that they display breeding behaviours in various species of trees, which is different from other states where they mostly exclusively nest in one species.
“It seems they choose where to nest based on the size of the tree. Once the nestlings start to fledge, they stay around the hollow until all birds are ready to leave the nest. That can take 2-3 weeks so they need plenty of resources around the tree for their survival.”
The second major part of her research is a temporal study. “So here we are looking at things like the effect of rainfall and drought, which is really crucial to know with climate change. For example, on hotter days they might not be able to get out and find water to drink which can have devastating consequences,” she says.
Our Naree Station Reserve on Budjiti Country near the New South Wales/Queensland border has been integral to this part of her research. Using data collected over 20 months from two Australian Acoustic Observatory acoustic recorders deployed on Naree, one near a water site and one in a dry area, Lola found that cumulative rainfall from the previous year led to a decrease in the number of Pink Cockatoos.
“This is not so uncommon for semi-arid birds because in times where there are resources everywhere, due to an increase in rainfall, they tend to disperse,” she says. However, Pink Cockatoos will come back to the same hollows for life and they tend to nest by water sources because they rely on them to survive, so if they dry up due to weather conditions then they will be forced to move on.
Significantly, Lola has also observed the birds across large swathes of her study sites.
“Throughout the year you can see them moving around these large reserves and so heterogeneity in the landscape is crucial as we believe they are constantly following resources such as food, water or hollows.”
This can make it difficult to understand why they are declining so fast, and reinforces the necessity of having landscape-scale areas of protected vegetation – particularly in a state like Queensland which has seen widespread land clearing and the loss of old mature trees.
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Pink Cockatoos. Photo Darcy Whittaker.
According to Bush Heritage Senior Ecologist and QUT Research Fellow Dr Daniella Teixeira, Lola’s research is helping to fill some key knowledge gaps for the Pink Cockatoo.
“Birds like cockatoos tend to have long lives and relatively low reproductive rates,” she says, “which means they can be vulnerable to extinction. Using new technologies like bioacoustic recorders means we can collect detailed daily information on the Pink Cockatoos’ ecology and behaviour, which can help with conservation and management.”
When asked about her favourite things about Pink Cockatoos, Lola’s list is long. ”They are very social and they always come back to the flock as they prefer to drink together. They are also monogamous and mate for life.” Top of the list though is their parenting habits.
“They both care for the nest equally, taking it in turns. I saw in one tree a female would go and have her last drink of the day while the male cared for the hollow. Then when the female came back they would kiss and canoodle and then the male would fly off for his last drink of the day. It was really beautiful.”
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