The short talk will be Barbara Allan’s annual review of the previous year’s Bird Blitz, a brief look at the findings across the twelve years of blitzes thus far, and an invitation to participate in Blitz 13, on 28-29 October. Please come along ready to nominate your preferred sites!
The main presentation will be by Dr Richard Major of the Australian Museum Sydney, on “Conservation ecology of the White-fronted Chat – a declining bird in an endangered ecological community”.
The White-fronted Chat is a Vulnerable species in NSW, with the Sydney population listed as endangered. In this talk, Richard will discuss historic and contemporary declines of this population and use genetic analysis to demonstrate that it is isolated from its nearest neighbours by a wall of urbanization. This barrier results in genetic differentiation similar to variation between mainland and island populations. He will also describe Australian Museum research investigating nest-caging as an option for boosting reproductive success in populations that are vulnerable to high-predation risks, as is the case for the endangered Sydney population.