As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday 30 March 2017

Curtis Island kill-off to save rare animal from wipe-out

Emily Pidgeon | 13th Mar 2017 2:24 AM Updated: 5:18 AM
THEY may have almost been extinct but Yellow Chats are making a come back.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service operations support manager Mark Read said the Yellow Chat's population growth had tripled in five years on Curtis Island.

"The bird has been listed as endangered on national level, so it's a bird under a lot of pressure," Mr Read said.
 
With nine birds left on Curtis Island in 2011, the number had grown to 35 as of last year.

"Once we removed grazing pressure and the damage of feral pigs, we've seen a bounce back of the marine plains and population recovery of Yellow Chats," Mr Read said.

"It's a great success story." As a wildlife biologist by trade, Mr Read said the habitat combination Yellow Chats live in, is quite unique and they only live in a few spots across the county.

"Curtis Island has got that unique combination of habitat these birds are specific to ... which is essentially marine plains," he said. 
 

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