No Casino shootout: police deny plan to kill swooping magpies in NSW town

Police say media reports that trained marksmen would be brought in to control the town’s magpies were incorrect

Naaman Zhou

Fri 4 Oct 2019 07.44 BSTLast modified on Fri 4 Oct 2019 07.58 BST

Police in the northern New South Wales town of Casino have denied they planned to deploy specially trained officers to shoot and kill magpies, contrary to media reports.

On Friday the Northern Star reported that elite police officers would descend on the town to shoot local magpies which have been deemed too dangerous to live.

According to quotes attributed to acting sergeant David Henderson, police “specially trained to euthanise animals as painlessly and quickly as possible” were to be brought in.

But NSW Police issued a statement in the afternoon saying “there is no proposed magpie cull in Casino or anywhere in the Richmond police district”.

Local councillor Jill Lyons confirmed there were no plans, and said she was glad it had not come to such measures.

“No one is aware of extra police coming into the area,” she said. “No police have been called in to shoot anything in the Richmond valley this season.

Continued

Site of planned Hunter coal plant is endangered bird's only NSW breeding area

The regent honeyeater’s plight has blocked previous Hunter Valley development plans in the Hunter economic zone

Ben Smee

Thu 7 Mar 2019 01.09 GMTLast modified on Thu 7 Mar 2019 22.43 GMT

The site flagged for a 2,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in the New South Wales Hunter region was the only breeding site in the state last year for the regent honeyeater, a critically endangered bird whose plight has blocked previous development plans.

Guardian Australia revealed yesterday that an agreement had been struck between the China Energy Engineering Corporation, Hong Kong-based Kaisun Holdings and a tiny Australian company, Cavcorp, to build a new coal plant.

Companies linked to Cavcorp’s sole director, Frank Cavasinni, own most of the land in the Hunter economic zone, a failed plan to stimulate local economies in the lower Hunter.

Previous plans to develop land in the HEZ failed to come to fruition because of their impact on the land, and particularly on the regent honeyeater.

In 2016 the NSW land and environment court overturned the approval for a steel plant on the grounds it would destroy the honeyeater’s habitat.

Mick Roderick, the NSW woodland bird program manager for BirdLife Australia, said the HEZ was the most important conservation property in the Hunter Valley. “It’s unparalleled in terms of the number of threatened species,” he said.

BirdLife Australia last year conducted searches for the regent honeyeater, which is estimated to have a remaining population of fewer than 400 birds. They could not find breeding sites elsewhere in the state, but observed nesting birds and chicks in the HEZ.

Roderick said the importance of the woodlands could not be overstated. “The fact that these are the only nests found so far this year shows how much trouble this species is in,” he said.

Dean Ingwersen, the national regent honeyeater recovery coordinator for BirdLife Australia, said the HEZ was “a critical piece of the conservation puzzle”.

Continued

Water bird numbers reveal long-term decline of Menindee Lakes' health

By Peter Hannam

21 January 2019 — 11:50pm

Water bird numbers at the world famous Menindee Lakes, near the site of this year's massive fish kill, are in long-term decline, amid an ongoing failure to manage water levels to match weather fluctuations, leading ecologist Richard Kingsford says.

Bird numbers at the lakes in far-western NSW peaked at about 140,000 in 1985, according to surveys taken annually since 1983. For each good wet year since that record, the bird count has been falling.

Water populations "are a bit like a tennis ball...but the bounce is just getting lower and lower" during good years, said Professor Kingsford, who is director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of NSW.

The lakes "are one of the hotspots for water bird in eastern Australia, and they've been declining for some time".

Read on

Only 12 breeding pairs of Australian rare bird left

Beach stone-curlews are under threat from feral foxes in New South Wales

Published: 14:06 August 15, 2018

Australasia region are under threat from feral foxes in New South Wales (NSW).

The aboriginal community in the coastal bushland has now taken up action to protect the rare birds by laying fox traps, Xinhua news agency reported.

Conserving the ground-nesting birds is important as there are only 12 breeding pairs left, said Banahm Slabb from the Tweed Byron Aboriginal Land Council.

The foxes were first introduced Down Under from Europe in the mid-1800s for sport hunting. Later they proliferated on minimal competition and have now started affecting native species.

Source 

Tuesday, August  28, 2018

                                                                                                                                                                          

With just 12 breeding pairs left, authorities move to protect rare Australian bird

Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-14 13:37:25|Editor: Shi Yinglun

SYDNEY, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The last 12 breeding pairs of the beach stone-curlew in Australia's New South Wales (NSW) are under threat from feral foxes, with the local community now taking action to protect the rare birds.

Local media reported on Tuesday that community groups have laid fox traps in an attempt to exterminate the introduced threat to local wildlife.

"We've got nice big areas of coastal bushland, which is habitat to lots of birds and animals, particularly ground-nesting birds such as the bush stone-curlew, also the beach stone-curlew," Tweed Shire Council's manager of natural resources Jane Lofthouse said.

"The beach stone-curlew is especially vulnerable because there are only, that we know of, 12 breeding pairs in the whole of NSW, so if we have one here on Fingal it is important we help them to breed."

Foxes were first introduced to Australia from Europe in the mid 1800's for the purpose of sport hunting, with a number of animals being deliberately released to establish a wild population.

Due to the Australian continent lack of equivalent native predators, the foxes proliferated on minimal competition for resources, and an abundant supply of prey unaccustomed to threat from apex predators.

Continued  

Swooping bird leaves faces bloodied and sends walkers running to cars

Sarah Swain, Manly Daily

October 27, 2017 7:21am

RESIDENTS of a northern beaches street have been forced to defend themselves with umbrellas after a brutal butcherbird started attacking them so fiercely it has drawn blood.

Locals in Eileen St, North Balgowlah have put signs outside their homes to warn walkers to beware of the unfriendly feathered creature which swoops on passers-by, often giving them a fierce peck on the face.

Some said they had even started driving to avoid having to walk in the street, while others have donned sunglasses, hats and put up umbrellas to shield themselves from the horror-film style situation.

Selma Creed, 81, said the brazen bird nearly knocked her over when it struck her, leaving her with blood running down her face. “I was stunned. I came in with my shopping and it pecked a hole in my head and blood was streaming,” she said.

“If I hadn’t have worn my glasses it would’ve got my eye. People walking up the street on their mobiles get attacked.”

Continued  

Farmers key to saving iconic plains-wanderer from extinction

ABC Riverina By Melinda Hayter

Updated 11 May 2016, 8:07am

Farmers living in south-western New South Wales are believed to be the key to the future of one of the world's most unique birds, the critically endangered plains-wanderer.

The New South Wales Government this week added the quail-like birds to the state's 'Iconic Species' list.

Environment Minister, Mark Speakman said the listing would give them priority investment under the $100m Saving our Species program.

"The plains-wanderer is so discreet that only a handful of farmers, scientists and avid bird enthusiasts are likely to lay eyes on it in the wild," he said.

Mr Speakman also revealed, for the first time in 30 years, the plains-wanderer had been bred in captivity as part of a partnership between the NSW Office of Environment (OEH) and Taronga Zoo.

"A pair of birds held at Taronga Zoo has mated and produced eggs and so far five healthy chicks have hatched and are thriving," he said.

OEH Team Leader of Ecosystems and Threatened Species, Matt Cameron, has praised the zoo for its work.

"The situation we've got now with plains-wanderers is that numbers have fallen so low that there's a real chance they could just blink out of existence and so establishing a captive insurance population is a key part of the recovery strategy," he said.

Continued ...

Black-Throated Finch Extinct in New South Wales

A few of these rare birds still exist in neighboring Queensland, but planned coal mines could push them over the edge

By John R. Platt on April 28, 2016

Australia’s bird-lovers just got some bad news. The New South Wales Scientific Committee has identified the southern black-throated finch (Poephila cincta cincta) as a likely extinction within the state. The tiny, 15-gram bird hasn’t been seen in NSW since 1994. Its disappearance has been blamed on a mix of habitat loss, invasive plants, altered fire regimes, agriculture, mining and invasive rabbits.

We don’t need to completely mourn this bird yet, as it still barely holds on outside of NSW. “The subspecies does still occur in limited numbers in the far north of its range in Queensland so it is not entirely extinct,” reports Mark Eldridge, chair of the NSW Scientific Committee, “but it is not doing well.”

That might be an understatement. Agriculture has already reduced black-throated finch habitat in Queensland by at least 80 percent, and it’s about to shrink even more. Six coal mines planned for central Queensland could wipe out half of the bird’s remaining habitat, according to a paper published earlier this year in PLOS One. Habitats affected by the mines’ construction would include some of the primary grasslands the birds need as ground-based seed eaters. Conservationists hope to use the rare birds to block the mines, but so far there hasn’t been much progress.

Looking elsewhere, the northern subspecies of black-throated finch (P.c. atropygialis) appears to doing quite well is not currently considered to be at risk. They may even carry some of the southern subspecies’ genes, as the two groups were known to hybridize in the past. That won’t be enough to save the southern black-throated finch from extinction, but at least some small part of them might survive inside of their cousins to the north.

Source …

Extinct status as black-throated finch no longer takes flight in NSW

1233 ABC Newcastle 

By Giselle Wakatama

Posted Fri at 11:05pm

A little bird is no longer taking flight in New South Wales, with scientific officials now declaring it extinct.

The southern species of the black-throated finch has been given the status, while a different species of the bird is still seen in Queensland.

The bird weighs about 15 grams and has a large head and a short, thick, black conical bill.

It also has a black bib, black rump and white upper tail.

Some of these birds that are reliant on grasses, like the black-throated finch, do find it hard to compete (with mining and agriculture).

The New South Wales Scientific Committee said the southern sub-species used to be widespread and abundant in the Northern Tableland and Northwest Slopes regions, from the Queensland border south to the Upper Hunter Valley.

There have only been three sightings of the bird since 1990.

Hunter Bird Observers Club president Allan Richardson said its extinction status was devastating.

"It's very, very sad; many of our threatened species are declining in their ranges," he said.

"There are not very many of our threatened species that are doing very well, so it is inevitable that as things continue, we may see some of those birds not exist in some areas."

Grazing, cropping, mining and wild rabbits have been blamed for the bird's extinction in New South Wales.

Continued ...

Endangered bird dies entangled in fishing line

An endangered Pied Oystercatcher has been found dead on the NSW South Coast, entangled in fishing line that had almost severed both its feet.

The bird was discovered by a paddler on Mogareeka Inlet, near Tathra, and has led to renewed appeals for fishers to leave no trace of line, hooks, or any other equipment.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Ranger for Ben Boyd National Park George Malolakis asked fishers to be wildlife aware.

“When fishing, try and cast away from foraging birds and make sure you collect any discarded fishing line or other fishing gear,” Mr Malolakis said.

“Death by entanglement is not humane and while most fishers have great respect for the environment, a thoughtless few can do serious harm

“The shortest piece of line or the smallest hook or lead weight left behind can injure or kill wildlife.

“If you do inadvertently hook a bird please don’t panic and do not cut your line.

“Gently reel the bird in and place a towel or shirt over the bird’s head, then very gently try to remove the hook or line.

“Do not release the bird if hooks have been swallowed or are too difficult to remove, instead call your local wildlife care group.

“This entangled bird carcass was delivered to WIRES and, while nothing could be done, this was the right thing to do.

Continued

Rare birds found off far south coast

Posted Wed Feb 27, 2013 1:47pm AEDT

  

A nest of extremely rare sea birds has been discovered off the New South Wales far south coast.

The pair of Fluffy Goulds Petrel was found by the National Parks and Wildlife Service on Montague Island- near Narooma, earlier this month.

Shorebird Recovery Officer, Amy Harris, says it is the first time the birds have been found at the site.

"It's a great discovery!” she said.

“The Goulds Peterel is the first sea bird in New South Wales to have its status downgraded from endangered to threatened.

“It's a really significant discovery," Dr Harris said.

Dr Harris says it is now only the fourth known breeding ground for the bird.

"We have one pair on the island which have a chick at the moment,” she said.

“They like to nest in very rocky, steep locations and we suspect there's a few more nests in inaccessible parts of the Island that we're yet to get to."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-27/rare-birds-found-off-far-south-coast/4542934

Bird flu strain hits NSW farm

An unidentified strain of bird flu has been detected at a hen farm near Maitland in the Hunter Valley, prompting authorities to quarantine about 50,000 chickens.

The suspected virus is not thought to be the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu that has killed 359 people worldwide in sporadic outbreaks since 2003.

Nonetheless, the 50,000 hens may have to be destroyed, the NSW Department of Primary Industries said.

A "first response team" of specialists from the department is on site to enforce the quarantine, while the CSIRO runs lab tests on samples of the virus, with results expected this afternoon.

"The suspected virus is definitely not the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain that has gained worldwide attention — nor is it closely related to that strain," the NSW chief veterinary officer, Ian Roth, said in a statement.

"Australia has previously had a small number of outbreaks of avian influenza viruses, which were all quickly and successfully eradicated," Dr Roth said.

"The property has been placed under quarantine and initial tracing and surveillance is being undertaken to confirm that the virus hasn't spread. We currently have no evidence to suggest it has."

The department said Australia has had five outbreaks of avian influenza in chickens between 1976 and 1997 – three in Victoria and one each in NSW and Queensland.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/bird-flu-strain-hits-nsw-farm-20121115-29e12.html#ixzz2CIOO1j23

Black market in rare birds suspected in northern district

A BLACK market for rare and expensive birds is operating in the northern district, warns Eastwood resident Ian Sheffield president of the Parrot Society of Australia (NSW).

Ten of his exotic birds were stolen from the aviary in the backyard of his Eastwood home while he slept about a month ago.

A pair of breeding Alexandrines, their three baby Alexandrines, one immature male Alexandrine and two breeding pairs of Plum head parrots went missing,

"I was just devastated when I walked outside and they were missing," he said. "The value of the birds varied, but to me they were priceless."

The estimated value could exceed $60,000 in the bird's breeding lifetime," he said. "The big thing is the dollar value is there because we can't import them anymore. So we have got to breed good ones from what we have."

Police are investigating the theft of birds from residential aviaries or cages over the past six months.

Continued:  http://northern-district-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/black-market-in-rare-birds-suspected-in-northern-district/