LOOKING FOR GANG-GANG COCKATOOS IN LANE COVE

Hi Tom,
I live in Epping & I walk in the Lane Cove Valley often. I last saw a
Gang-Gang Cockatoo [in fact a pair] near Day Rd in Cheltenham on the 14th
March 2014. It was my first sighting for years & I did report it. At the
time I was told that there had been a dramatic reduction in sightings over
the past few years. I spoke to a lady who lived at Byles Creek in Beecroft
about the same time who said she occasionally saw a lone male. There had
been some reported from near the native plant nursery in Pennant Hills, but
again when I checked I was told they only infrequently saw 1 or 2.
Unfortunately it did seem as if they had all but disappeared by mid 2014.

>From Jenny Stiles

—–Original Message—–
From: Tom Wilson
Sent: Sunday, August 06, 2017 8:38 PM
To: Martin Butterfield ; birding aus
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] LOOKING FOR GANG-GANG COCKATOOS IN LANE COVE
VALLEY, SYDNEY – SINCE DECEMBER 2016

Hi Martin (& others who have responded)
it?s not my local patch so although I visit, I am not a daily observer.
However, my understanding is that the population in Lane Cove Valley was
only ever small (Alan Morris ? if you read this you might know more?).
I agree that no reports in 8 months might be a bit early to make the call,
but it also seems sensible to put out a request to see if they have been
around. The records for the last 4 years or so that the council bloke
referred to seemed pretty sparse ? of course that that might be a function
of not many birders and not many observations. To counter that, I suggested
to the council bloke that he put an advert in the local free newspapers for
the areas around the valley (with a picture) asking ?has anybody has seen
this parrot??
If it is a small population, one belt of something nasty could be the cause
? certainly the last bird I saw (as opposed to heard) looked in extremely
poor condition ? a male with about 1/3 of his head plumage missing.
So I hope you are right that 8 months is a bit soon ? but then that is why I
put the request out in the first place.
Cheers
Tom

From: Martin Butterfield
Sent: Sunday, August 6, 2017 4:34 PM
To: Tom Wilson
Cc: birding aus
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] LOOKING FOR GANG-GANG COCKATOOS IN LANE COVE
VALLEY, SYDNEY – SINCE DECEMBER 2016

Tom

Surely an 8 month period is far too short to start thinking about
“extinction” ? That isn’t even a breeding season.

Perhaps they’ve found better feed somewhere else and will be back in a
little while?

Martin

Hi All
Through a referral from Kurtis Lindsay as an eBird and Birdline moderator,
I was recently approached by a conservation officer from Ku-Ring-Gai Council
with disturbing news that the last reported sighting of a Gang-gang Cockatoo
in the Lane Cove Valley (northern Sydney) was in December 2016. It has been
surmised that they are (sadly) locally extinct in the valley.
Unfortunately, I had no more recent records that would prove this to be
incorrect (my last record was mid-2016 near Blackbutt Avenue in Pennant
Hills).
If you have more recent evidence (ie after December 2016) that would help
show that this is not the case, please can you forward as much detail as
possible to me. I will collate and forward all information to the council
officer. Ideally, please can you provide as much of the following
information as you can:
– Date and Time;
– Exact location in the Lane Cove Valley;
– Number and Mix of Birds (ie Male/Female/Young);
– Sighted or Heard Only;
– Activity Observed (including species of tree being used if feeding); and
– Any Other Relevant Comments.
You can forward your information to me at the above email. Let?s hope we
can prove that they are still about.
Cheers
Tom Wilson

Hi Tom,

There’s been a fair bit of residential subdivision and apartment building in
the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai Shires, over the last few years. While
significant tracts of bushland still remain, human dwellings (houses and
large apartment blocks) are built right up against them. It’s usually
existing residential lots being carved up into smaller allotments or
transformed into large apartment blocks, which has resulted in the narrowing
of the interface between the bushland and urban development. When this
happens, more of the bushland areas are managed for bushfire threats. I
suspect that light pollution from these buildings at night would disturb
roosting Gang-gangs, noise pollution during the day during building
construction may be enough to displace foraging Gang-gangs, and perhaps the
removal of some of the bushland understorey for bushfire management has also
impacted on the Gang-gangs. Although the Hornsby/Ku-ring-gai population of
Gang-gangs is listed as an endangered populat ion under the NSW Threatened
Species Act 1995, it’s likely that individuals moved in and out of that
population, given that they can fly large distances. If that is the case,
it’s not hard to imagine individuals moving elsewhere to avoid urban
disturbances.

There’s quite a strong community resistance to further residential
subdivision and apartment building in the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai Shires.
Reasons often given for that opposition are the need to retain the bushland
in parts of these shires, and protection of habitat for the Powerful Owl and
Gang-gang Cockatoo.

For the record, I last saw a Gang-gang Cockatoo in the area in Pennant Hills
in November 2014, but I don’t go looking for them on a regular basis.

Kind regards,
Stephen Ambrose

Ryde, NSW

Hi All
Through a referral from Kurtis Lindsay as an eBird and Birdline moderator,
I was recently approached by a conservation officer from Ku-Ring-Gai Council
with disturbing news that the last reported sighting of a Gang-gang Cockatoo
in the Lane Cove Valley (northern Sydney) was in December 2016. It has been
surmised that they are (sadly) locally extinct in the valley.
Unfortunately, I had no more recent records that would prove this to be
incorrect (my last record was mid-2016 near Blackbutt Avenue in Pennant
Hills).
If you have more recent evidence (ie after December 2016) that would help
show that this is not the case, please can you forward as much detail as
possible to me. I will collate and forward all information to the council
officer. Ideally, please can you provide as much of the following
information as you can:
– Date and Time;
– Exact location in the Lane Cove Valley;
– Number and Mix of Birds (ie Male/Female/Young);
– Sighted or Heard Only;
– Activity Observed (including species of tree being used if feeding); and
– Any Other Relevant Comments.
You can forward your information to me at the above email. Let?s hope we
can prove that they are still about.
Cheers
Tom Wilson

The 77th Gould League Bird Study Camp will be held at Inverary Homestead,
Dthinna Dthinnawan National Park, near Yetman NSW from September 26 to
October 5 2017. There are still a few spaces available for people wanting
to camp either in a tent or a van or camper. If anyone is interested could
they please contact me by email ASAP. We have a limit on the numbers so it
will be first in best dressed.

Regards