The following extracts are from Glossy Black Conservancy News No. 6 November 2008. For further information please visit .://..glossyblack.org.au , get in touch with your local Conservancy partner or email GBC@biodiversity.tv.
The Glossy Black Conservancy is a not for profit consortium that seeks to increase awareness and promote a collaborative conservation management approach for Glossy Black-Cockatoos across South East Queensland, through a partnership between government, private enterprise, researchers and the wider community.
Education Kit now available!
Hurray! The Education Kit is now available! Thanks to the efforts of Conservancy representatives, EnviroComm consultants, Kingfisher Creative graphic designers and funding from the Australian Government, an attractive, user-friendly and informative set of educational resources has been developed. One hundred kits were able to be produced with the grant funds and these will be distributed to schools that have expressed interest in the project. All the resources developed are also available on the Conservancy’s website, ..glossyblack.org.au. We look forward now to visiting schools, doing presentations to students and coordinating feed tree plantings.
On 10 December, SEQ Catchments will host the 2008 Year in Review. During this annual event, Glossy Black Conservancy representatives will review progress against the 2008 Action Plan and identify activities and priorities for 2009.
She-oak Identification
Did you know there are 12 species of she-oak found in south-east Queensland? Eight are species in the genus Allocasuarina and four in the genus Casuarina. Of these, four species are known to be favoured Glossy Black-Cockatoo food trees:
• A. inophloia, Thready-barked she-oak
• A. littoralis, Black she-oak
• A. torulosa, Forest or Rose she-oak; and
• C. cristata, Belah
Glossies are also known to regularly feed in C.equisetifolia (Coastal she-oak) and occasionally A.luehmannii (Bulloak) and C. cunninghamiana (River sheoak).It is not known whether the birds feed in the other five species.
So, how do you know which species of she-oak you’re looking at? Key features to note are:
• Tree habit: size (shrub or tree) and shape (upright, spreading, weeping)
• Seed cone: size (width and length) and shape (oval, cylindrical, squat)
• Branchlet: thickness (thin or thick) and no. of “teeth’
• Tree bark: colour (dark brown, black, greyish) and texture (rough, scaly, smooth, fissured, shaggy, corky)
• Habitat: coastal, mountain, creeks, swamps
Ort Report
Finding chewed cones, or orts, under casuarina trees is a pretty good clue that Glossy Black-Cockatoos may have been feeding in the tree. The colour of the chewed flesh indicates how long ago the birds were there; the whiter the cone, the more recently a bird was there.
Report your Sightings!
If you have seen a Glossy Black-Cockatoo or found some orts, please complete a Sightings Report.