Written by Alan Kerlin Wednesday, 16 December 2009 00:00
A group of Brown Treecreeper birds were released recently into the Mulligans Flat Woodlands Sanctuary.
A total of 45 Brown Treecreepers (Climacteris picumnus) have been reintroduced into the Sanctuary. They are listed as a vulnerable species in the ACT.
The Sanctuary has a purpose-built predator-proof fence and suitable habitat containing coarse woody debris and nest boxes. The birds are being sourced from the Wagga Wagga area and are brought to the ACT in their entire social groups.
Monitoring of the Brown Treecreepers will be carried out using radio-tracking transmitters to track their survival and movement patterns.
This release program will be good for the health of the bush in the reserve and for some distance around it. When I managed the Holbrook Landcare Group near Wagga, we were restoring understorey vegetation over 2000 hectares in order to bring small insectivorous birds back into our area. These birds had been driven out by habitat loss, plus the aggressive territorial behaviour of the native Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) - a real pest when it takes over an area. In turn, the mature eucalyptus trees suffered heavy dieback due to being overcome by tiny sap-sucking insects called lerps - prime diet of Treecreepers and other small birds like the Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus).
These little birds need areas of dense undergrowth so they can keep safe from the Miners. With kangaroo numbers now being controlled in the Mulligans Flat Sanctuary, overgrazing that destroys the birds' habitat should now be reversed, allowing the birds to get back to their important environmental role.
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