Goodbye Pink N

Last week I confirmed the first mortality of one of my study birds. It is sad to loose one but it has overall been really encouraging to see just how well the rehabilitated birds have adjusted to being back in the wild.

The cause of death will remain unknown but she did survive for a whole month after release. She was found under pines next to a remnant of Banksia woodland east of Yanchep National Park.

The new hand held tracking gear enabled me to find her tracking device when previous attempts at searching the area had failed to find her (even armed with a metal detector). The device had been giving very inaccurate location readings because it was transmitting from a slope under the canopy of trees which was hampering its signal reaching the satellites.

Pink N's tracking device still attached to tail feathers

Blue A sighting

I tested some new equipment this morning. It is going to be a big help with field work next year. It led me to Blue A in Middle Swan. The battery in her tracking device is failing but was strong enough for me to locate with the new equipment. Below is a pic of her amongst some flock mates feeding on Marri seeds and also a closeup of her tail showing the identifying marks still visible but faded. She seemed quite happy waddling about on the ground before flying away.




 

Blue A to left of image nibbling at seed pods of Prickly Moses (Acacia pulchella)

Closeup of Blue A's faded but still recognisable tail markings

Flying around

Both my study birds and I have been flying around the countryside these last couple of weeks. I have been participating as a counter for the annual aerial kangaroo surveys. We flew over where some of my study birds have been hanging out which gave me an interesting perspective of their habitat.


Blue X has visited the Clackline area

 

Blue E has spent a lot of time in pine plantations near Lake Preston

 Four of my study birds have flown inland in the last couple of weeks. Our long distance traveller, Pink S, (who was released at Yanchep, travelled up to near Lancelin, then further up the coast to Arrowsmith, back down to Jurien, then near Cervantes)...has now travelled 100 km inland to near New Norcia! I can't keep up!!

Others have moved inland to Bindoon, Morangup and Clackline.

Cheeky Chasey

During our lunch break from fitting tracking devices to Baudin's cockatoos we had the opportunity to meet Chasey. He was hit by a car when he was very young and is now one of the cockatoos used for education by the Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Rehabilitation Centre.

He isn't always well behaved as the photo below shows. He is very skilled at button removal!

Lian Yeap and Chasey (with button in his beak!)

Great Cocky Count results for 2012

The results of the 2012 Great Cocky Count have been released. The report is available from the BirdLife Australia website.

Satellite tracking Baudin's cockatoos

Last week I helped attach satellite tracking devices to two Baudin's cockatoos. We used the same devices and methodology I used on my study birds with the hope that it would work just as well. They were released on Friday evening and so far so good.

Murdoch University released a media statement today that summarises their movements for the first few days and other details.



Baudin's cockatoo has a much longer bill than Carnaby's cockatoo

Louise Hopper and Anna Le Souef releasing the two Baudin's cockatoos at Rushton Park, Kelmscott

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.