Carnaby's and Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Project

The last couple of months have seen our volunteer teams finish up with a lot of our planting projects, and start on our green stock and track maintenance activities.  Volunteers have also had the opportunity to visit a couple of primary schools where they have assisted teachers by building outdoor and living classrooms.  Teachers will now be able to use these outdoor natural spaces to educate students about sustainability, Reduce Reuse Recycle, ecosystems and life cycles.

One of these projects was at Orange Grove Primary School where the students built nesting boxes for the Black Cockatoos earlier this year.  Every time the team visits the school, they monitor all five of the nesting boxes for signs of use.  So far the smaller parrot boxes have visible scratching marks and staff from the school have seen the Black Cockatoos checking out the larger nesting boxes.  Volunteers have also helped with sustainability projects at the school, helping to build veggie gardens and compost heaps.  The Principal, Ms Cole was extremely happy with the activities completed by the volunteers, “Thank you so much for your help, the students are now researching what veggies they will plant and when”.     

Our volunteers were once again lucky to be visited by flocks of Black Cockatoos this quarter.  Teams helping with invasive weed removal on Ferndale were witness to a small flock of Red Tailed Black Cockatoos, feeding and playing in the nearby trees. Long-time regular volunteer, Mr Nylander, caught some great shots of the flock and Regional Coordinator Ms Haynes said “It’s great for the volunteers to see the beautiful birds in the wild.  Their huge effort to restore the Black Cockatoos habitat is immediately rewarded with the large birds’ playful behaviour in the sky”.

For the rest of the year, our volunteers will be focusing on the maintenance of the thousands of seedlings that we planted over winter. It’s a big task, but an important one to secure the future of this vulnerable species.

Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) would like to thank our supporters, volunteers and donors.  Without your support, CVA wouldn’t be able to make a difference to this important cause.  If you are able to donate again we would really appreciate it – every donation will help us to continue achieving these great conservation results and give these beautiful birds a better chance at coming back from the brink of extinction.

Links:

• Check out our website!

Welcome Friends of Cockatoo Conservation,

The last three months have been busy for our volunteer teams.  With winter in full swing, we have been planting thousands of tree seedlings and preparing planting sites to help other community groups with their tree planting efforts for the cockatoos.

In July our volunteers had some important visitors to one of our project sites to supervise our planting efforts.  A large flock of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos sat in the trees, and watched on as we planted native seedlings which will grow into food and roosting sources for this vulnerable species.  Red tails are notoriously cheeky and playful birds, and our volunteers watched as they crash-landed into each other on the tree branches and mucked about in the sky. 

Conservation volunteer, Nanae Arato, travelled from Japan to take part on our program, and was excited to see the red tails.  She said, “It’s amazing to see the birds that we are planting these seedlings for, they are beautiful!”  The rest of the team also enjoyed the red tails’ visit as it really hit home, how all their efforts will directly help the local wildlife.

From July to the end of August, our volunteers spent time at a number of key sites for the black cockatoos around Perth.   These included bushland sites in Nedlands and Inglewood.  These inner suburban sites form important green corridors, that provide protection for the black cockatoos as they search for food and roosting sites.  Revegetating and maintaining these corridors forms an important part of the rehabilitation plan for these birds.

We would like to thank our supporters and volunteers.  Without your support, Conservation Volunteers Australia wouldn’t be able to make a difference to this important cause.  If you are able to donate again, we would really appreciate it – every donation will help us to continue achieving these great conservation results and give these beautiful birds a better chance at coming back from the brink of extinction.  For the rest of the year, our volunteers will be focusing on the essential maintenance of the thousands of seedlings that we planted over winter to give the best possible chance for these new cockatoo habitats to grow and thrive.  

Links:

• Conservation Volunteers Australia