People all over New South Wales are being asked to be on the lookout for some of our most obvious birds.
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Everyone is encouraged to become birdwatchers, at least for a day, on Sunday, October 26 as part of the annual white ibis, and now sulphur-crested cockatoo, census.
Dr John Martin said the survey co-ordinated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) aims to better understand where these birds are breeding and what areas they are using across the landscape.
“This year we are also asking for reports of sulphur-crested cockatoos”, John said.
“White ibis and the sulphur-crested cockatoos have become more common in urban areas and have adapted to eat different food and live within close proximity to humans”, he said.
“Both species have changed their distribution and behaviour over the last 40-years.
“Getting an overview of the ibis and cockatoo populations is only possible with the help of the community.
“Locals know their area and they can easily report the presence of ibis or cockatoos.”
“Ibis are native to Australia but they have increased in numbers along the coast in response to drought and changes to the inland wetlands,” Dr Martin said.
Since the ibis surveys began in 2003, more than 2000 ibis have been colour-banded and wing-tagged to get an idea of where they go when they leave the Sydney area.
So far, colour-branded chicks have been found as far a field as Townsville – 2500km away, while in the Sydney region we have radio-tracked ibis moving up to 35km to forage on a daily basis.
A similar wing-tagging and GPS-tracking study of the cockatoos has been running for three years in the Sydney region.
This study has recorded movements from the Royal Botanic Garden to Engadine, Bexley, Gordon, Narrabeen and suburbs in between.
Participating in the survey is easy. On Sunday 26 October, just head out to wherever you may see ibis or cockatoos and count them, record if they have bands on their legs or tags on their wings and then fill in the on-line form at:
Ibis: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/surveys/WhiteIbisSurvey.htm
Cockatoo: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/surveys/CockatooPopulationSurvey.htm
