Glossy black-cockatoo chicks discovered on burnt Kangaroo Island giving hope to the species being saved from extinction
The devastating summer bushfires had an unimaginable impact on Kangaroo Island’s wildlife – but a few months later, little lives are hatching.
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New life has hatched among the burnt bushland of Kangaroo Island.
Twenty-three glossy black-cockatoo chicks were discovered during nest inspections, boosting hopes the species can be saved from extinction.
Karleah Berris, from Natural Resources Kangaroo Island, says it is encouraging to see so many healthy chicks.
“It’s amazing to see that glossies have continued to nest in places like Middle River and DeMole River where there’s some trees that survived the flames,” Ms Berris says.
“We’re keeping a very close eye on those nests to ensure they’ve got enough food to keep the nestlings going until fledging.”
Kangaroo Island was estimated to have about 370 glossy black-cockatoos prior to the bushfires, with up to 75 per cent of the population living within the 210,000ha area that was burnt, sparking fears for the future of the species.
Ms Berris says the biggest threat is possums, but corrugated iron collars fixed around trees with nests will help prevent access to eggs and nestlings.
“The survival rate for nestlings is up around 70 per cent, so we don’t lose many after they hatch. The biggest threat is possums predating on eggs and nestlings,” she says.
“In the past we’ve had large nestlings up to five weeks old being taken by possums.”
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With funding from WWF-Australia, Natural Resources Kangaroo Island has been surveying damaged habitat and inspecting nests that survived the fires. Other animals on the island, including kangaroos, are also showing promising signs of recovery and starting to gathering their own food for the first time since the bushfire.
High rainfall has led to rapid regrowth of native vegetation, allowing the RSPCA to scale back its feeding program, which launched four months ago.
Field operations manager Melanie Lambert is thankful for the work of landholders and volunteers, who have saved many animals at risk of starvation. “It was shocking enough to see so many animals incinerated or suffering horrendous burns,” she says. “But to then leave those animals that survived to fend for themselves in that bleak landscape was totally unacceptable to RSPCA.”
The organisation’s feeding program provides food for native wildlife. At its peak, 89 feeding stations were being maintained. The teams continue to replenish feed at 42 of the original stations.
with Patrick James, AAP
Bushfire conditions to worsen in future
Australia faces even more dangerous bushfire conditions in the future, say scientists who warn the devastating 2019-20 blazes are not a one-off event.
The coronavirus pandemic has slowed the recovery from the bushfires and interrupted planning for future fire seasons, the natural disaster royal commission noted as its first hearing on Monday.
The Bureau of Meteorology says Australia is experiencing longer bushfire seasons with more extreme fire danger days.
Large fire events such as the “Black Summer” 2019-20 bushfires are occurring more frequently, its head of climate monitoring Dr Karl Braganza said. “This isn’t a one-off event that we’re looking at here,” he told the hearing.
“The frequency of these events, if we look at the historical record, seems to be increasing.”
Research by the bureau and the CSIRO shows the fire danger is very likely to increase in the future for many regions of Australia, exacerbated by the increased occurrence of extreme heat events.
Senior CSIRO scientist Dr Helen Cleugh said: “These dangerous weather conditions for bushfires are likely to occur at least in part due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions.”
Fires burning in heavily-forested areas also generated their own weather and thunderstorms – called pyroconvection – which Dr Cleugh said could provide an ignition source and also affects the spread of fires.
The Black Summer bushfires killed 33 people, destroyed more than 3000 homes and burnt about 12 million hectares across Australia.
Royal commission chair Mark Binskin said many bushfire-affected communities were still grieving.
– Megan Neil