Black Cockatoo Community Survey Count – 2017
Background
- Black Cockatoo Survey – The Great Cocky Count (GCC) is an annual citizen science survey for three threatened black-cockatoos in the southwest of Western Australia (WA). Volunteers are allocated to a known or potential roost site and use a standard protocol to record the numbers of black-cockatoos arriving at the site to roost for the night.
- The 2017 GCC occurred on Sunday 9 April 2017. This year’s GCC was the eighth consecutive count and ninth overall.
- The 2017 GCC surveyed roost sites for Carnaby’s, Baudin’s and Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo (FRTBC). All are endemic to south western WA and listed as threatened species under State and Commonwealth legislation.
- This report builds on the substantial contribution made by previous Great Cocky Counts to our knowledge of black-cockatoos in the greater Perth Region and regional Western Australia.
Key Outcomes
- The Great Cocky Count is one of the largest citizen science surveys of its kind in Australia. Community interest is significant – this year almost 900 registered volunteers surveyed 469 sites across the southwest of WA. Total volunteer participation likely exceeded 1,500 community members.
- The minimum population count for Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo in the Greater Perth-Peel Region was 10,248 (similar to 2016 and around twice the average for 2010-15). The Greater Perth-Peel Region consists of the Perth-Peel Coastal Plain, which encompasses all of the Perth-Peel metropolitan area along the Swan Coastal Plain, and the Northern Darling Scarp and Plateau, which includes the northern Jarrah-Marri Forest (Table 3).
- Most (73%) of the Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos recorded in the Perth-Peel Coastal Plain were associated with the Gnangara-Pinjar pine plantation, north of Perth. The large number of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos (7,450) recorded in roosts associated with the pine plantation is higher than previous surveys. In previous years, the pine plantation has supported 27- 62% of the Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos recorded in the Perth-Peel Coastal Plain during the non-breeding season, emphasising the importance of pines as both a roosting area and food resource during this period.
- A single roost site located east of Yanchep had a count of 3,528 Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos. This accounted for 34% of all of the Carnaby’s recorded on the Perth-Peel Coastal Plain, and is the second highest single count ever recorded in a Great Cocky Count survey. The same site had a count of 4,897 in 2016 and has come to be known as the ‘mega roost’.
To read the full report of the Black Cockatoo Count visit Direct.Birdline.org
To read other articles related to cockatoo parrots visit our blog.
