Rock star

The 2014 Great Cocky Count Report  was released in June and reports a concerning declining trend in both the number of Carnaby's cockatoos using roosts and the number of roosts occupied in the greater Perth region.

This has attracted quite a bit of attention including the following Podcast called How to Save a Rock Star from Extinction which you can listen to and hear Marc Wohling speaking with BirdLife Australia's Samantha Vine and Jess Lee.

Time is flying by

I know it has been a while since I last added a post to my blog. Time has really flown by this year!

I have been very busy entering, analysing and writing up the results of my project. In the last few months I have also been giving presentations at conferences.

Back in August I gave a presentation at the Combined Biological Sciences Meeting that was hosted at the University of Western Australia. My presentation was titled "Studying the spatial ecology of a highly mobile species using three complimentary techniques". As a huge bonus I was awarded the New Investigator Award for my presentation. The award will help me travel to another conference in the coming year to present the results of my study.

In September I presented at the Sustainable City Conference in Siena, Italy. The reason I was interested in this particular conference (apart from the amazing scenery of the location) was the opportunity to meet landscape planners, urban designers and architects. One of the keys to conserving Carnaby's cockatoo in Perth is going to be making the urban landscape as cockatoo friendly as possible and to do that we are going to need to make changes to how we design, develop and manage the urban landscape.

Certosa di Pontignano - Sustainable City 2014 conference

Certosa di Pontignano - Sustainable City 2014 conference

6th Great Cocky Count

The sixth Great Cocky Count (GCC), WA’s biggest survey for the endangered Carnaby’s Cockatoo, will be held on Sunday 6 April 2014. During this annual community-based survey, volunteers count Carnaby’s at night-time roost sites across the southwest of the state on a single night in April. The 2014 GCC will also count red-tailed black cockatoos.

A key aim of the GCC is to survey as many roost sites as possible. Your help is needed to make the 2014 GCC the biggest survey ever.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Register to monitor a roost site on Sunday 6 April 2014

Fill out the 2014 volunteer registration form to express your interest in conducting a roost count for the 2014 GCC (See below for contact details for the count coordinator to request a form). There are several hundred sites to monitor, so we need your help!

2. Report a roost site

Help us to identify more roost sites for both white-tailed and red-tailed black-cockatoos. Roosts are places where black-cockatoos rest at night. Important information on the location of critical roosting habitat is collected through the GCC, and is increasing with every GCC completed. If you know about a night-time roost site, please email or call the count coordinator.

3. Tell your friends and colleagues about the GCC

Use your networks to spread the word about the GCC. Facebook, Twitter, email, and word-of-mouth are all great ways to encourage people to get involved.

For more information about the GCC, or to tell us about a roost site for white-tailed or red-tailed black-cockies, contact Hugh Finn on 9287 2251 or 0400 177 615 or at greatcockycount@birdlife.org.au

The 2014 Great Cocky Count is funded by Perth Region NRM through the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country program.

Turning science into public policy

I recently found out that I have been awarded a Wentworth Group Science Scholarship! I'll be going to Sydney in March to attend a Master Class where I will meet some of Australia's leading scientists.

The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists aim to incorporate more science into public policy, to drive innovation, and to implement solutions to improve the management of Australia's land, water, marine and coastal resources.

The entire purpose of my project has been to identify what it is that Carnaby's cockatoos need to survive in the urban landscape. The  next step is to ensure that those important elements are protected or enhanced through conservation strategies and public policy including urban planning and clearing application assessments. The scholarship will help me package the findings from my project so that they can be readily incorporated into public policy.