BOWERBIRD MONITORING WEEKEND

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

Birdlife Northern Queensland plans to set up a new long term monitoring project to count Tooth-billed Bowerbirds. Anyone can join in with this project and we will outline how you can help out to provide useful information, whilst enjoying a short walk birdwatching in the cool of the higher altitude forests of Far North Queensland.

Surveys

Tooth-billed Bowerbirds call reliably, loudly and repeatedly from the same court sites every year. The new project will count the number of Tooth-billed Bowerbirds calling along a selection of transects throughout the Wet Tropics. The idea is to see if there is any change to the number of birds calling into the future. Anyone can join in. A survey will involve  a 1–2 km walk.

Volunteers can do this at any site they like either during the above weekend or really on any morning October – December during the period when Tooth-billed Bowerbirds are calling at their courts. It is useful to walk a transect regularly once a year or even up to once a week to get a measure of variability.

Sites include:

Mt Misery (Cooktown), Mt Lewis drive to clearing, Mt Lewis Dam walk, Kahlpahlim Track, Gillies Lookout Road Drive, Lake Eacham, Lake Barrine, Curtain Fig Tree, Mt Baldy Drive, Wongabel, Fig Tree Close Malanda, Seamark Rd Malanda, Bartle Frere (1st km), Tully Falls Rd, Sutties Gap, Kirrama Range, Wallaman Falls, Paluma.

If you would like more information on any of the transects, would like to start a different transect or would like to come along with Dominic at the weekend, contact on dominic@pinecreekpictures.com.au.

Dominic Chaplin

Bowerbird Monitoring Coordinator