The Northern Beaches fairy-wren survey
The primary goal of this annual project is to bring the community into reserves to experience their values and gain a greater sense of "ownership" and care. The fairy-wren survey itself will provide some information on demography and habitat use in the Pittwater LGA reserves. The survey is conducted over one weekend in September, but may be extended to a quarterly program. The target species for the survey are the Variegated Fairy-wren Malurus lamberti and the Superb Fairy-wren Malurus cyanea.
The first year survey, conducted on the weekend of September 21-22, 2007, was a pilot project designed to explore survey methods, structure, administration and promotions. The project was conceived 2 weeks prior to the event and the turnout of over 30 participants was considered a successful response and one which bodes well for future years.
A pre-survey workshop/presentation was conducted on the Friday night before the surveys, which was very well attended too. A website was also created to facilitate online bookings and disseminate information on the project. You can find this at www.redtail.net.au/fairy-wrens.
First year findings
Surveys of this nature can generally be expected to yield data which produces trends which are observable only after several years of work. Therefore, I was most surprised to find that even on our first round of surveys some potentially valuable information appears to have surfaced: that despite the "old wisdom" that "Variegated Fairy-wrens prefer dense vegetation and Superb Fairy-wrens prefer sparser vegetation" our findings revealed that density, sparsity and moisture of vegetation communities played no role in habitat use by either species. Rather, our findings were that Variegated Fairy-wrens occurred only in very complex vegetation, whilst Superb Fairy-wrens occured only in simple vegetation communities, virtual monocultures. The vegetation types in which both species were recorded were either dry, damp, flooded, sparse or dense.
If found to be robust, these findings may have large implications for the management of urban bushland, reserves, bush regeneration, urban plantings and wildlife corridor construction. I will be researching these finding with much greater focus and rigour over the coming the two years.
These findings also raise questions about distribution limitations and habitat use, which will also be explored. They also explain why Superb Fairy-wrens profit wherever humans clear vegetation for urban development and agriculture, as both activities create vastly simpler vegetation communities.
We all look forward to learning much more about the distribution and societies of fairy-wrens on the northern beaches in future years.
The project commenced in September 2007 and is ongoing.