BULOKE FOR THE FUTURE

RESTORING HABITAT FOR ENDANGERED COCKIES

By Cassie Hlava Habitat Officer, Southeastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo

The endangered south-eastern red-tailed black cockatoo1 is known for being a fussy eater. Restoring habitat for these fussy feeders is even more of a challenge when one of its food trees is among the most difficult trees to revegetate.

Since 2018, Trees For Life has been playing an important role in restoring habitat for this charismatic species as part of the Australian Government funded 'Communities helping

Cockies' project.

So far, we’ve improved the condition of feeding habitat by removing weeds across 600 hectares of habitat and planting 4,000 stringybark2 and buloke3 food trees. We’ve also planted 10,000 associated native plants. By including these native species which naturally occur in stringybark and buloke woodlands our plantings will provide much needed habitat for many other native species. Our Seed

Bank, Westwood Nursery and Tree

Scheme volunteer growers have all played an important role in collecting seed and propagating seedlings for this project.

Until now, restoration efforts have focused largely on stringybark, as the sandy soils they grow on are more readily available for revegetation and the trees produce food for the cockatoos in as little as ten years.

Therefore, a significant component of our habitat project is propagating and planting buloke seedlings. The buloke is a casuarina which produces seed in cones. Only the female of the buloke tree produces cones, although some trees have male and female characteristics. In late summer and early autumn there’s only a brief window where the seed is available and many red-tails will switch from their staple food source of stringybark to the larger and more nutritious buloke seed.

In South Australia, buloke naturally grows on Potaruwutij and Jardwadjali country on heavy clay loam soils close to the Victorian border around Frances, Hynam and Bordertown. This also happens to be some of the most valuable farming land in the

state. Most remaining buloke occurs as scattered paddock trees and these trees are disappearing at an alarming rate4. With less than three per cent of buloke trees remaining, the loss of these trees has contributed significantly to the decline of redtails. This means we urgently need to plant more.

Finding buloke planting sites is not easy. In the first year of the project we were planting bulokes on cleared roadsides and any other available public land. In the second year several private landholders have come on board. We’ve found some ideal sites where stands of mature bulokes have been fenced off but young trees are not regenerating. By planting seedlings, we’re ensuring these scarce patches of feeding habitat are regenerating for the future.

Jess and Nick Livingston, with their children Zoe and Archie, moved to the south east from Tasmania in 2019. Shortly after settling in to their property near Frances, Jess contacted Trees For Life after noticing our flyer advertising the Communities helping Cockies project in the local pub. Jess had never seen a red-tailed blackcockatoo before but was keen to help this local endangered species.

“We live on a farm – approximately 1,300 acres – in Frances which is in the south east of South Australia, between Bordertown and Naracoorte. The property is a privately owned farm with a mix of cropping ground and light bush, grazing country,” Jess says. “We moved to the property in December 2019 and within six weeks we were in touch with Cassie from Trees For Life to learn more about the red-tails project and see how we could get involved. Like all good things … we heard about the project initially at The Frances Hotel, our local pub! A flyer about the project caught my eye and then we got chatting with some other locals about the project and the plight of the red-tail black-cockatoos.”

“Another reason for us was to create a connection with the property for our children. They are both interested in the environment and it was great to be able to involve them in something which they can see from infancy … and we can watch as the trees grow and develop.”

Normally it takes about 12 months to plan a revegetation project, but Jess was adamant that she wanted to start straight away. Our Westwood Nursery, along with the Southern Ground nursery in Kingston, had good success propagating the bulokes which meant we had plenty of trees ready to be planted. Although Jess and Nick were already keen to restore the native vegetation on their property, learning more about the red-tails and their habitat has been an important part of the process.

“It was great to work with people knowledgeable in this field. Cassie came and we went around the property and looked at the possible sites and options that we could go with. We selected planting along a boundary fence and intend to interplant to make it into a bit of a wind break as well in the future, with other flowering natives which will also support other bird life. I have learnt a lot more about the red-tails throughout this project,” Jess says.

Luckily Nick is a fencing pro and got the fence up in no time. The whole family were putting the finishing touches on the wiring as our planting team arrived. In just three months they fenced off a hectare of their property and planted 200 bulokes. The bulokes have been planted at least eight metres apart to ensure they have enough space to grow into large and productive trees. Jess says they plan to continue their restoration efforts in years to come. “The project has also afforded us the opportunity to grow on from this initial planting. We’re planning to add some interplantings and some additional individual trees throughout the property. “

It was great to work with people knowledgeable in this field.

Seven year old Zoe was keen to the red-tails in a manner which suits help plant the seedlings and enjoyed your property.” getting her hands dirty, while her five Zoe and Archie will have to be year old brother Archie found it fun to patient though as buloke trees are hide the seedlings behind fence posts. very slow growing and need to be Jess says it was important for this at least 50 years old to be suitable to be a family project with everyone for red-tails to feed on and 100 years involved from day one. to be the preferred size! This is why “Participating in the project landholders like the Livingston’s are was great. We were involved in the critical to the success of this project planting and fencing aspects. The and the survival of the south-eastern team who completed the work were red-tailed black-cockatoo. all very lovely and they involved our Future food security for However, planting this food tree now children in the the red-tails is important and in the right aspects that they could help with, so that made it a due to the loss of buloke in the area and, given location is only part of the story. Buloke trees are really enjoyable process. For us it is a nice continuation red-tails already visit our property, this was a good tough as nails but establishing seedlings is a of the work that has already been opportunity to contribute. challenge. The clay soils they grow on done here by previous owners … the are a sticky wet mess in winter and custodians of the land that we hope to in summer they set like concrete, continue on with. “ cracking open to expose fragile roots.

Shortly after my first visit to Jess It is likely that natural recruitment and Nick’s property, they spotted a is episodic and only occurs in years flock of 20 red-tails feeding on their when there is high rainfall which remnant buloke trees. “Future food helps the trees to survive. To add to security for the red-tails is important the challenge, the seedlings are also due to the loss of buloke in the area highly palatable and are grazed by and, given red-tails already visit our rabbits, hares, kangaroos and stock. property, this was a good opportunity Through our project we’re trialling to contribute. If you are considering a variety of techniques to improve getting involved, I would recommend seedling survival and growth rates. getting in touch with Cassie to see Dale Simpson from Lucindale Paving how you can participate and support has this great little machine which enables us to trial a variety of site

OPPOSITE PAGE: Dale Simpson with his 'machine'.

TOP MIDDLE: Buloke (Allocasuarina luehmannii) cone on a female tree by David Hinchcliffe.

TOP RIGHT: Zoe Livingston planting one of 200 bulokes on her family's property near Frances in the south east.

preparation methods. Dale is as keen to see the project succeed as we are and always has ingenious ideas for techniques to try out. Last planting season we mixed sand in to the clay soil down to a depth of half a metre to help roots get established more quickly and eliminate the risk of cracking. Another trial involved ripping the soil in a criss-cross pattern for each individual tree with the idea that this method will shatter the soil and provide space for roots to penetrate and water to infiltrate.

We’ve also trialled carefully ripping the roots of highly productive mature female bulokes to encourage production of suckers. These suckers will be clones of the parent tree and therefore females guaranteed to produce seeds for the cockatoos to feed on.

These trials are helping us to establish buloke seedlings but now we need more land to plant them. The large old trees won’t be around forever so it’s vital to plant the next generation of buloke now. We’re seeking more landholders like the Livingston’s to work with us in the south east to provide a future for these magnificent birds. 

Can you help?

If you, or someone you know, can help the red-tails please contact Trees For Life on 08 8406 0500, or email info@treesforlife.org.au.

The Communities helping Cockies project is supported by the Limestone Coast Landscape Board through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and is delivered in partnership by BirdLife Australia, Trees For Life and Zoos SA.

1) Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne 2) Eucalyptus arenacea, Eucalyptus baxteri 3) Allocasuarina luehmannii 4) Koch P. 2019. Habitat extent mapping and rates of habitat change for the 2003 – 2017 period across feeding and nesting resources for the South-eastern Red-tailed BlackCockatoo. Report to the South Eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo recovery team. Future Ecosystems.

GETTING TO KNOW OUR SOUTH-EASTERN RED-TAILED BLACKCOCKATOO

There are five sub-species of red-tailed black-cockatoo. The south-eastern red-tailed black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne) is only found in south-east South Australia and south-west Victoria. With an estimated population of only 1,500 birds, it is in danger of extinction.

Red-tailed black-cockatoos nest from spring through to autumn, mostly in dead red gums in farmed paddocks. The single egg is incubated by the female. The male spends his day feeding and returns in the evening to feed his mate. Nestlings are fed only by the female, who leaves the nest for longer periods as the chick develops.

Red-tailed black-cockatoos are 55-60 cm in length and may live in the wild for more than 30 years.

Unlike other sub-species of red-tailed black-cockatoo the south-eastern sub-species is an ecological specialist, feeding almost entirely on the seeds of brown and desert stringybark (Eucalyptus baxteri and Eucalyptus arenacea) and seasonally (January to March) on buloke (Allocasuarina luehmannii). The distribution and flowering patterns of the cockatoo’s preferred food trees determines where the birds occur throughout the range from year to year.

South-eastern red-tailed black-cockatoos use their left foot almost exclusively to feed; interestingly, red-tails from the Northern Territory, which feed on the ground, use both feet.