Gouldian finch wet season off to a flying start
06 Mar 2006
Darwin, Australia - Last year's dry season produced the highest number of Gouldian finch sightings recorded in the wild across northern Australian in recent times, says WWF-Australia.
The vibrantly coloured Gouldian finch is one of northern Australia's most threatened bird species. Its numbers plummeted from flock sizes of thousands of birds recorded soon after European settlement, to groups of ten to a hundred birds now occasionally seen at dry season waterholes.
The recent increase in reported sightings included flocks of 100-400 birds in the Arnhem Land, Douglas-Daly and central Kimberley regions in late 2005 and is giving scientists and wildlife managers hope that Gouldian finch populations might be recovering.
A recovery program has been in place for this species since the early 1990s. Activities focus on population monitoring, determining key threats to populations, and implementing appropriate fire management to help the species recover.
"Gouldian populations are being affected by savanna-wide changes in land use that have resulted in dramatically altered fire regimes and increased grazing intensity across northern Australia," says WWF-Australia spokesperson and Threatened Species Network Coordinator, Dr Colleen O'Malley.
According to Dr O'Malley, who chairs the National Gouldian Finch Recovery Team, these changes are impacting on the availability of wet season grass seed resources to the extent that birds are potentially not surviving the lean times at the onset of the wet season.
"The next few months are critical for Gouldians. If native grass seed resources are in good supply, then plenty of young birds will survive to breed from April onwards," says Charles Darwin University Professor, Stephen Garnett, Gouldian Finch Recovery Team member.
Gouldian finch researchers within the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service and with Australian Wildlife Conservancy in the Kimberley region will be keeping a close eye on what happens with bird numbers after this year's breeding season. WWF is hopeful that it could be another big year for Gouldians, and flock sizes may increase again provided fire and grazing pressure are carefully managed across their savanna habitats.
For more information
Colleen O'Malley, WWF-Australia Threatened Species Network
Phone: 08 8952 1541
Professor Stephen Garnett, Charles Darwin University
Phone: 08 8946 7115
Angela Heck, Press Officer, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1268
Phone: 0421 053 023
