“If we plant it, hopefully they will come” – enticing rare Kangaroo Island glossies back to the mainland

The South Australian subspecies of the Glossy Black Cockatoo, found only on Kangaroo Island. Photo: Karleah Berris, LandscapeSA

Greening Australia and the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia are teaming up to plant more than 19,000 food and nesting trees to entice one of the nation’s rarest birds back to the mainland.

Kangaroo Island is the last refuge for the South Australian subspecies of glossy black-cockatoo – which is smaller but has a bigger bill than glossies in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

In 1995 the subspecies was heading towards extinction with fewer than 200 SA glossies left on Kangaroo Island. The Kangaroo Island Glossy Black-Cockatoo Recovery Program, with local community support, turned that around boosting the population to about 454 by 2020.

From left to right: Ben Sanders (WWF-Australia), Ed Vercoe (landholder), & Andrew Woodroffe (Greening Australia) among thousands of newly planted sheoaks that will hopefully entice glossies back to the mainland. © WWF-Australia / thinkMammoth

But in a major setback, the 2019-20 fires burned 54% of feeding habitat and 38.5% of known nests on Kangaroo Island, according to the KI Glossies Recovery Program. With reduced food supplies, flock sizes in some fire impacted areas on western Kangaroo Island are now smaller.

The fires highlighted an urgent need to re-establish habitat for glossies on the Fleurieu Peninsula, just across from Kangaroo Island.

It would improve the species’ resilience by providing additional foraging and breeding grounds, hopefully increasing numbers and spreading out the population.

The glossy flock on eastern Kangaroo Island, unaffected by the fires and closer to the Fleurieu, continues to grow and it is hoped they will expand their range across Backstairs Passage if enough habitat is created.

Ed Vercoe talks to Greening Australia’s Andrew Woodroffe. © WWF-Australia / thinkMammoth

The SA Glossy Black-Cockatoo – which feeds almost exclusively on seeds from drooping sheoaks – disappeared from the mainland in the 1970s after decades of clearing decimated sheoak woodlands.

“On the Fleurieu alone, there were 22,000 hectares of sheoak woodland but only about 2% remains. Greening Australia and WWF are rebuilding quality habitat and we’re really excited that this could potentially bring glossy black-cockatoos back to the mainland,” said Ben Sanders, forests program manager, WWF-Australia.

The timing is right with a confirmed sighting of a Glossy Black-Cockatoo visiting Fleurieu Peninsula last year, likely in search of a new food source following the fires.

“If we plant it, hopefully they will come, make little cockatoo babies, and then spread out and multiply,” said Andrew Woodroffe, Senior Program Officer with Greening Australia.

In total 19,000 trees, across three sites, are being planted. They’re a mix of drooping sheoaks for food and eucalypts such as the river red gum and pink gum to one day provide nesting hollows.

Ben Sanders and Andrew Woodroffe amid a growing stand of drooping sheoaks. Glossies feed almost exclusively on the seeds in drooping sheoak cones. © WWF-Australia / thinkMammoth

At Ed Vercoe’s cattle and olive farm in Carrickalinga, Traditional Owner workers organised by RAW Group helped to plant 5,900 trees. Mr Vercoe is restoring vegetation, cleared before he took over the farm, to benefit wildlife and his pasture.

“It always stuns me how many trees must have been cut down. It seems the right thing to do to put some back. If we saw glossy black-cockatoos back here again, it’d be fantastic.

“With the high winds here the soil can go from very wet to very dry in a matter of hours. If the trees block wind and hold water on the upper slopes it will help the pasture.

“I think every farmer should have a look at their property and work out which areas would benefit from revegetation. Don’t be scared of it. Just get some trees in the ground – it can only be good,” he said.

Mr Woodroffe said the sites chosen and even the seeds sourced are the result of collaborative analysis and modelling with local experts, led by Greening Australia.

“First we identified high priority locations to restore sheoak woodland on the Fleurieu, based on the needs and preferences of glossies and the proximity to Kangaroo Island.

“Then we collected seed from sheoaks in different temperature and rainfall zones of South Australia to make sure the plantings are as ready as possible for whatever climate change brings,” he said.

An example of what the new plantings will look like in time can be found at Fishery Beach where drooping sheoaks have been planted over a 20-year time span.

A growing drooping sheoak woodland at Fishery Beach. More habitat like this will need to be created to bring glossies back to the mainland. © WWF-Australia / thinkMammoth

We work with landholders around the country. Learn more and register your interest in a no-obligation chat at greeningaustralia.org.au/landholders.