Birds of the Strathbogies

The following blog post is part of this exercise.

Birdwatching: combining leisure and conservation.

Crimson Rosella are easy to see in Boho South. Photo by SouthernAnt on Flickr.

BOCA bird camp

The Strathbogie Tableland is a special part of the world, hidden on a plateau in the Strathbogie Ranges, 200 km north-east of Melbourne. It’s here that Bird Observation and Conservation Australia (BOCA) spent five days camping and birdwatching recently.

Both BOCA members and non-members are welcome to join in on holidays like this, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The aims are to socialise, to relax, and to watch birds and collect valuable information on them.

I joined this BOCA camp for one afternoon for a walk in a private property in a part of the Tableland called Boho South.

Birdwatching

Birdwatching isn’t difficult. All you need are a pair of binoculars, a bird identification book, and an interest in birds. Of course, it helps to have the company of a more experienced birder, which is why joining a bird camp is a great way to learn more.

Birdwatching isn’t boring, either. Many people envisage birdwatching as sitting silently in a hide, watching birds as they pass by. In reality, there are many ways to watch birds. On this bird camp, we simply went for a small walk and kept an eye out for birds. The aim was to enjoy the bush as much as it was to enjoy the birds.

Conservation

Birdwatching is more than a sociable and leisurely pastime. Data collected from birdwatching can be valuable for conservation. Many landowners who are actively engaged in revegetating parts of their property ask BOCA and other birdwatching groups to survey their land.

The result is that land owners find out which bird species are found on their property, and the ornithological community—that is, the community concerned with the study of birds—can add to its bird distribution records. Ultimately, we can determine which areas are the most important to protect, depending on species diversity and the presence of threatened species.

Why birds?

Birds are good indicators of how healthy an environment is. What’s more, generally, they’re easier to see than other fauna, and research suggests that rises and dips in bird populations can indicate environmental change.

Join in

Anyone is welcome on BOCA camps, regardless of membership and birding experience. It’s a relaxing weekend activity where you can combine leisure-time in the bush with a little bit of conservation, and learn something new. Contact BOCA for more information.

Squirrel Gliders uncovered

This article is part of this exercise.

See elusive Australian marsupials up-close, and help conserve their future.

Photos by C Eaw, used with permission.

Secretive small mammals

Enveloped in the blackness of night, the single light beam struck the tree like a Light Saber. Crouched on a limb was a large possum, round as a ball, with a long tail curled in a perfect “J”. It was a Common Ringtail Possum.

Smaller Australian marsupials are elusive. Like Ringtails, you may only encounter one by wielding a spotlight at night. Even at night, seeing small mammals in Australia is a challenge. It wasn’t until I joined the Regent Honeyeater Project that I saw Squirrel Gliders up close.

The Regent Honeyeater Project

The project’s name implies it’s concerned with birds exclusively, but it turns out, it works towards conserving mammals too.

I chanced upon the Regent Honeyeater Project through the Melbourne University Mountaineering Club (MUMC). Being largely a community-based project, many people hear about the Regent Honeyeater Project through their local bird group, environmental group or walking group.

That’s how I found myself driving a carload of MUMC members to Lurg, a hilly district about 200 km north-east of Melbourne. This landscape is more famously known as ‘Kelly Country’, infamous bushranger Ned Kelly’s trampling-ground.

Today the landscape looks vastly different. Most of the bush has been cleared for farmland, producing rolling, rocky hills dotted with “islands” of Box and Ironbark trees.

Mugga Ironbarks are magnificent trees. Their bark is a deep red wine-colour, and their leaves are a misty blue. It’s in this Box-Ironbark habitat where the Regent Honeyeater Project has installed nesting boxes.

Nesting boxes

Our job this weekend was not installing nesting boxes, but checking them. Checking nesting boxes isn’t as simple as simply opening a box.

Using a contour-map, we were expected to navigate Box-Ironbark forest, towing a trailer and a ladder. Armed with pens and clipboards filled with data sheets, we piled into my car—destination; somewhere in the Lurg district, possibly off-road.

Nesting boxes were in all kinds of locations; planted roadsides, planted creek beds, and within patches of bush in private properties. Every site was different, and at each one, we wandered amongst the young trees for some time, searching for the one with a pale green nesting box.

Firmly, we planted the ladder in the ground at the tree’s base before the most adventurous of us volunteered to climb first. The atmosphere at the tree’s base was always excited silence, since we were afraid any boisterousness might scare the gliders away—if any were around.

Gliders

Bracing myself against a branch, I opened the box gently and peered in. Amongst the circular nest of dry Eucalypt leaves littering the box’s bottom, were the Squirrel Gliders. There’s something heart-warming about poking your nose into a wooden box to find a Squirrel Glider family huddling together on a brisk day. Satisfied, I lowered the box’s lid gingerly and twisted the wire latch shut.

The simple fact that the surest way I could see Squirrel Gliders was by looking inside boxes installed by the Regent Honeyeater project says something. Box-Ironbark forests are disappearing, and it’s not good news for animals like the Squirrel Glider that are found only in Box-Ironbark habitat.

That’s why projects such as these are critical to wildlife conservation. And, they’re a brilliant way to explore the Victorian countryside.