FACT SHEET 2 - archive.lls.nsw.gov.au · spiders, beetles, etc) ... • Incentives for establishing...
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Birds are a vital component in helping you to maximise Natural Resource Management (NRM) on your farm. Birds are known as ‘indicator species’, and a large variety of birds present on your farm can indicate a high diversity of trees, shrubs, mammals, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates. Birds provide many on-farm benefits ranging from agricultural insect pest control to maintaining tree health, which is intimately linked with NRM. Grey-crowned Babbler (Pomatostomus temporalis temporalis) Status: Vulnerable in NSW. Protected throughout Australia. Description: The Grey-crowned Babbler reaches up to 30 cm long and is the largest of the four Australian babblers. It has a distinctive curved bill, with a broad white eyebrow and a pale grey crown-strip. A dark grey-brown band extends from the bill through the eye, separating the brow and pale throat to give it a ‘masked’ appearance. It has dark greyish-brown back and top of wings, with a paler brown underbelly. During flight it is quite distinctive, showing white tips to the tail feathers. Young babblers have dark brown eyes, which turn yellow by about three years of age. Call: ‘ya-hoo’ (female call ‘ya’ male response ‘hoo’) FACT SHEET 2 The Murrumbidgee CMA together with the Grain & Graze project helps you maximise profitability and Natural Resource Management on your farm. Feeding: Grey-crowned Babblers forage in groups of two to fifteen amongst leaf litter, fallen trees and the bark of shrubs and trees. Their diet consists almost entirely of invertebrates (ants, spiders, beetles, etc) and occasionally seeds. Breeding: Grey-crowned Babblers live and breed in co-operative territorial groups of two to fifteen. A group usually has a dominant breeding pair with several non-breeding birds. Two types of nests are built: roost nests, which are used by the whole group and brood-nests, used by the breeding females. Old nests are often renovated and re-used from year to year. The brooding female (occasionally more than one) is fed by the other group members and they all help to feed the nestlings. Two broods usually raised per breeding season (July — February). Habitat: In the Murrumbidgee Catchment Grey-crowned Babblers inhabit open Box-Gum Woodlands on the slopes and Box-Cypress Pine and open Box Woodlands on alluvial plains. Their territory ranges from 1 to 50 Ha (commonly around 10 Ha) and are defended vigorously. Did you Know? The old nests of Grey-crowned Babblers are used by other birds. Grey-crowned Babbler. Photo: Geoffrey Dabb, Canberra Ornithologists Group.
Transcript of FACT SHEET 2 - archive.lls.nsw.gov.au · spiders, beetles, etc) ... • Incentives for establishing...
Birds are a vital component in helping you to maximise Natural Resource Management (NRM) on your farm. Birds are known as ‘indicator species’, and a large variety of birds present on your farm can indicate a high diversity of trees, shrubs, mammals, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates. Birds provide many on-farm benefits ranging from agricultural insect pest control to maintaining tree health, which is intimately linked with NRM.
Grey-crowned Babbler (Pomatostomus temporalis temporalis) Status: Vulnerable in NSW. Protected throughout Australia. Description: The Grey-crowned Babbler reaches up to 30 cm long and is the largest of the four Australian babblers. It has a distinctive curved bill, with a broad white eyebrow and a pale grey crown-strip. A dark grey-brown band extends from the bill through the eye, separating the brow and pale throat to give it a ‘masked’ appearance. It has dark greyish-brown back and top of wings, with a paler brown underbelly. During flight it is quite distinctive, showing white tips to the tail feathers. Young babblers have dark brown eyes, which turn yellow by about three years of age. Call: ‘ya-hoo’ (female call ‘ya’ male response ‘hoo’)
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FACT SHEET 2
The Murrumbidgee CMA together with the Grain & Graze project helps you maximise profitability and Natural Resource Management on your farm.
Feeding: Grey-crowned Babblers forage in groups of two to fifteen amongst leaf litter, fallen trees and the bark of shrubs and trees. Their diet consists almost entirely of invertebrates (ants, spiders, beetles, etc) and occasionally seeds. Breeding: Grey-crowned Babblers live and breed in co-operative territorial groups of two to fifteen. A group usually has a dominant breeding pair with several non-breeding birds. Two types of nests are built: roost nests, which are used by the whole group and brood-nests, used by the breeding females. Old nests are often renovated and re-used from year to year. The brooding female (occasionally more than one) is fed by the other group members and they all help to feed the nestlings. Two broods usually raised per breeding season (July — February). Habitat: In the Murrumbidgee Catchment Grey-crowned Babblers inhabit open Box-Gum Woodlands on the slopes and Box-Cypress Pine and open Box Woodlands on alluvial plains. Their territory ranges from 1 to 50 Ha (commonly around 10 Ha) and are defended vigorously.
Did you Know? The old nests of Grey-crowned
Babblers are used by other birds.
Grey-crowned Babbler. Photo: Geoffrey Dabb, Canberra Ornithologists Group.
FACT SHEET 2
References: Barrett, G. (2000). Birds on Farms: Ecological manage-ment for agricultural sustain-ability. Supplement to Wing-span, vol. 10, no.4, December 2000. Birds in Backyards. Website: http://birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=168 Threatened Species: species, populations and ecological communities of NSW. Web-site: http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10660
How the Murrumbidgee CMA can assist you? • Incentives for protecting and enhancing native remnant vegetation • Incentives for revegetating areas with local native species • Incentives for establishing wildlife
corridors • Providing alternate stock watering
points where wetlands and riparian areas have been fenced off (conditions apply)
Threats to Grey-crowned Babblers: • Clearing of woodland remnant vegetation • Heavy grazing and removal of fallen
timber within woodland remnants • Nest predation by Ravens and
Butcherbirds can be a problem in some areas, especially where
populations are small and fragmented
How can you help to encourage these birds on your farm? • Retain existing woodland vegetation on
your farm • Don’t remove fallen timber from woodland areas • Fence off woodland areas and encourage
regeneration of the habitat • Increase the size of woodland areas to at
least 10 Ha or larger by planting locally native plant species
• Establish unimproved pasture around woodland areas to act as buffer zones
Benefits of Grey-crowned Babblers for your farm: • They act as biological pest control for insects • Aid in maintenance of tree health, by feeding on
insects under bark and in tree crevices • Increasing Grey-crowned Babbler habitat • increases habitat for other beneficial fauna species • Improves on-farm aesthetics • A large Grey-crown Babbler population indicates a healthy stand of native vegetation
Known Grey-crowned Babbler habitat — Black Box Open Woodland, near Leeton, NSW. (Photo: S. de Lange)
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For further information contact:
��������������������������������Catchment Officer (Grain & Graze) Murrumbidgee CMA Leeton office Ph: (02) 6953 0766 Mob: 0428 265 040 E-mail: [email protected] �
�� ����� ��������������������Catchment Officer (Grain & Graze) Murrumbidgee CMA Henty office Ph: (02) 6929 3555 Mob: 0427 012 862 E-mail: [email protected] �
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Grain and Graze Murrumbidgee partners:
