The first presentation will be by Peter Fullagar and Chris Davey on “Assessing Silver Gull breeding numbers on Spinnaker Island, Lake Burley Griffin, ACT- 2010-2020”. They will discuss the problems of assessing numbers and productivity in colonial breeding birds, based on their work with Silver Gulls in Canberra. They will summarise their survey results and then describe the use of a drone to determine colony size and breeding success.
The main presentation will be by Stuart Rae on “Little Eagles in the ACT area – and beyond, 2017-2020”. The Little Eagle Research Group has been studying these birds for four years now, and Stuart will present the group’s findings so far. The group is an informal collaborative study group which aims to monitor and assess the status and ecology of the Little Eagle in the ACT and nearby NSW. This is done part-time with the combined knowledge expertise and resources of the group members. They have collated a vast amount of data on the birds’ diet, population, breeding success, and movements. So how many are there, where are they and why? Stuart will illustrate answers to these questions with examples of the bird’s foods, habitats and nationwide movements.