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CORRIDORS FOR CARNABYS
Project impact
Find out how the project has been designed from the start to meet the critical needs of Carnaby's now, while building a sustainable future for these iconic birds.
Restoring vital migration routes
Why This Matters
- Habitat fragmentation Over 80% of the Carnabys' ancestral feeding grounds have been cleared, and many remaining areas are isolated.
- Seasonal migration The birds traditionally foraged near the coast in winter and in the forests to the east in summer during breeding season. These migration paths are largely lost.
What we are doing
- Habitat connectivity: Bridge existing gaps between isolated food resources, helping the cockatoos to travel between areas and their traditional seasonal migration paths.
- Forage security: Establishing long-term food security by planting over 200,000 native seedlings along the corridor that provide the highest quality food for cockatoos.
- Landscape-scale benefits: Integrated with local Indigenous partners and community planting areas in addition to the corridor.
- Community empowerment: Community groups are integral to the process, allowing the success of this project to be used to create further corridors across the wider region.
Urgent food and nesting sites
Why This Matters
- Critical food shortage: The population of Carnaby's Black Cockatoo has more than halved since the 1970's from loss of habitat and food sources due to clearing for farming and development. Starvation is a common cause of mortality, and reduces breeding success.
- Lack of nesting hollows: Carnaby's nest in large hollows that only form in trees that are well over 100 years old. Extensive land clearing and logging means many mating pairs are unable to find hollows breed.
What we are doing
- 'Nuts About Carnaby's': Spearheaded by celebrity gardener Sabrina Hahn, we will establish fast-maturing nut trees across the wider region - providing food for Carnaby's, while the slower-growing native plantings mature.
- Nesting box network Working with community conservation groups that have extensive knowledge of their local Carnaby's flocks, we will install nesting boxes to enhance and extend existing proven and safe nesting areas.
- Water stations Carnaby-safe water stations will be installed to reduce summer heat stress and mortality. This will focusing initially on the enhanced nesting site areas, followed by the Corridor.
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Why This Matters
- Sporadic flock data Due to the large area these birds inhabit, species population estimates rely on a once-per-year population count. While providing vital information, there is a lack of detailed flock patterns between seasons and within the region
- Social networks and dynamics There is increasing evidence of the complex social interations of these birds, both within flocks (e.g. 'creching' their young fledglings) and between flocks (movement of individuals and pairs between flocks). Understanding these dynamics is crucial for understanding how to best protect these birds.
What we are doing
- Flock behaviour dynamics Easy, rapid counting of flock numbers from geo-tagged locations will allow us for the first time to understand the seasonal and annual patterns of Carnabys flocks.
- Community engagement These tools will be combined into the Carnabys Connect app, allowing the community to contribute to the understanding of these birds, and share and educate their friends and family.
Community and school programs
Why This Matters
- Untapped potential These birds need help from the whole community if they are to survive. Many people are concerned for the Carnabys, but do not know how to help
- Scale of action needed While Corridors for Carnabys is the most significant project yet to save these iconic birds, it represents less than 10% of the action needed to help these birds recover and flourish into the future.
What we are doing
- Concerned citizens to caretakers Spearheaded by celebrity gardener Sabrina Hahn, we will to create a community restoration network across where people can transform their gardens, schools and community spaces into vital supplementary habitat for Carnabys.
- Share the knowledge The knowledge gained from the project impacts will be actively communicated to Indigenous and community groups, government representatives and Carnaby advocates so the impacts can be used across the Carnabys range. This is needed to deliver the landscape-scale these icons must have for the future they deserve.
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