We hope that this project’s collaborations among local governments, NGOs and Friends of Bushland groups will continue beyond the project’s lifetime, with ongoing revegetation and rewilding activities to provide new Carnaby’s cockatoo food and habitat every year. We also hope this program will enable other councils and Friends groups to access this website’s resources, reach out to the founding NGO groups, and take action to safeguard their local black cockatoos.
Keep Carnaby’s Flying – Ngoolarks Forever activities include:
Working with selected local governments to protect their Ngoolarks
We are using our black cockatoo tracking data and information from our partner NGOs to identify four key Local Government Authorities per year of the project in which to undertake on-ground action, including revegetation to provide Ngoolarks with fast-growing food species to help meet immediate food needs; and installation of water-drinking stations to prevent heat stress.
Community partnerships for on-ground action
Our project is supporting close working partnerships for on-ground action among key community groups, including ‘umbrella’ sustainability NGOs, local-level Friends of Bushland groups and Aboriginal rangers.
Working with Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre and Perth Zoo
Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre provides a successful rehabilitation program, treating and returning black cockatoos to the wild, following initial veterinary assessment and treatment of these birds at Perth Zoo. We are using the health and husbandry records of both organisations in a large-scale epidemiological study to identify health threats in the urban landscape, such as hotspots for vehicle strike, and any changes over time in the nature of clinical cases (debilitated birds brought in for veterinary treatment). This will help us to identify and manage urban threats to Ngoolarks, and support the rehabilitation program.
Providing local governments with black cockatoo Conservation Action Plans
To help these Local Government Authorities involved in this project to protect their Ngoolarks, we will give them their own unique Conservation Action Plan (CAP), informed by science including our black cockatoo tracking data and locations of roost sites in each locality. The CAPs will provide a blueprint for conservation management of black cockatoos in each local government area in the short, medium and long-term.
Community outreach and awareness-raising in schools
Our project, with Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre and our Cultural Engagement Lead from Murdoch University, will deliver community outreach to specific schools and community groups in the project’s selected local government areas, with a focus on black cockatoo conservation and the cultural significance of these endangered birds for Noongar people. The project will focus on schools identified as having important habitat for Carnaby’s cockatoos in each locality, and schools which have expressed interest and capacity to undertake revegetation/rewilding initiatives. School presentations may include bringing an ‘educational ambassador’ black cockatoo (a bird that cannot be released due to injury and is accustomed to public outreach activities) for students to observe up close, while promoting revegetation activities. We are also providing Educational Resources Materials for use in schools, including prepared lessons on Ngoolarks and their conservation.
What are Ngoolarks eating in urban landscapes? - dietary profiles using eDNA
This project will explore what Ngoolarks are eating in different seasons, in partnership with the Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) laboratory at Curtin University. Analysis of environmental DNA samples collected from night roosts in each of our selected local government areas over different seasons will help identify important food plant species and give us a seasonal ‘botany of forage’ in each locality, to guide planting decisions.
