September update

Data management course

I have just returned from a week long intensive course on data management for movement ecology. I met some fantastic people and learnt a lot. It is always a good experience when many like-minded people are put in a room together to share stories and experiences about their common interests.

If you are interested, the course materials are available here. Similar or related courses were held earlier this year in Amsterdam and Norway. It is certainly a rapidly advancing area of study. The technology and associated spatial database tools and analysis techniques are all quickly developing and many cooperative projects (e.g. MoveBank, WRAM etc) are underway helping to share knowledge between researchers.

Lecture room for course

Study bird update

Whilst I have been away two more tracking devices have stopped transmitting, most likely from battery failure. Just before his tracking device stopped, Blue L was last recorded in a new area for him south of the river in the vicinity of Canning Vale. Another notable movement was again from Pink S (the study bird who took the long flight up to Arrowsmith). He has returned south about 50km to the vicinity of Jurien.

Cockatoo sign

A new sign has been created to alert motorists that Carnaby's cockatoo frequents an area. The signs are being placed at locations where cockatoos are often struck by vehicles. They are quite large birds and must take off into the wind which means they sometimes cannot move fast enough to get out of the way of passing traffic. Places where they drink from puddles beside the road or feed on roadside vegetation are where they are most vulnerable (see my previous post Living Dangerously). Hopefully the signs will encourage motorists to slow down and reduce the number of cockatoos struck by vehicles.

A media statement with a photo of the new sign is available here.

A previous media statement titled road danger for cockatoos also highlights the problem of vehicles for cockatoos.