Ilsa
Cunningham
The
regent honeyeater, a bird under threat of extinction, has been found in the
Burragorang Valley which environmentalists say will be inundated if the
proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam for flood mitigation goes ahead.
Researchers
from the Australian National University (ANU) discovered 21 birds and
seven nests in the area late last year, publishing their findings in a report
released last week.
“The
Burragorang is a really important piece of the jigsaw for the Blue Mountains
population,” said lead researcher Ross Crates.
“The
birds are so restricted in where they will breed. They need trees in blossom to
breed.”
Being
chased away by bigger birds also made breeding problematic.
Australia-wide,
only between 200 to 500 regent honeyeaters remain, Mr Crates said.
“If we
are to have any chance of saving regent honeyeaters from extinction, we must
act now. We must protect all existing breeding habitat, restore lost breeding
habitat and protect nests.”
Mr Crates
and his colleagues from ANU’s Difficult Bird Research Group surveyed more
than 5000 sites between 2015 and 2017 to locate this rare species.
In
addition to the new breeding site found in the Burragorang Valley, another new
site was found in the Severn River in northern NSW.
No comments:
Post a Comment