2011 Annual Count

A big thank you to all 160 volunteers taking part in the Annual Count held on Saturday May 7th. Conditions on the day were good but rains earlier in the year made many of the tracks impassable.
Final numbers are now in and it looks as if another low count will be recorded for the third year in a row. While the result of 837 is slightly more than previous years, it doesn’t come close to the 2008 result of 1404 birds.

Annual Count 2011
A big thank you to all 160 volunteers taking part in the Annual Count held on Saturday May 7th. Conditions on the day were good but rains earlier in the year made many of the tracks impassable.
Final numbers are now in and it looks as if another low count will be recorded for the third year in a row. While the result of 837 is slightly more than previous years, it doesn’t come close to the 2008 result of 1404 birds.
Red-tails roam from the Lower Glenelg National Park up to Keith and from Lucindale to Balmoral, so finding them in an 18,000 km2 area is always a challenge. It’s likely that many birds were missed in the scrub, rather than suffering a population decline since the record 2008 count.
Overall, Red-tails appear to have moved north in recent months. The biggest mob (201 birds) was spotted north east of Edenhope by long time Red-tail observers Ros and Andrew Bradey. Interestingly, very few birds were sighted south of Casterton.
The Annual Count gives an indication of population size. By taking this snapshot across the range, we get a better understanding of the Red-tails preferred habitat, which is used to target future conservation works. The count is also important in locating larger flocks. We conduct special counts of the larger flocks to give us an indication of the last years breeding success.
Importantly, the annual count is a great way for the community to get involved in Red–tail recovery with 163 volunteers taking part this year; some travelling from as far as Adelaide and Melbourne. Most volunteers however were relatively local including many farmers surveying their own properties.
As usual, there was a campout at Baileys Rocks (just north of Dergholm) with about 20 people attending and sharing tales of success (or not) in locating birds. Max Arney, another long time supporter of the Red-tails topped the score at the campout with 75. I need to find out his secret as he often finds big mobs on count day and I rarely see any!
Apart from helping our research efforts, the count is a great way to promote awareness of the conservation needs of this local flagship species and provide a fantastic activity, enjoyed by young and old.
This event would not be possible without the help and support of our fantastic network of volunteers. A big thank you to all those involved – we couldn’t do it without you! If you haven’t been involved in the Annual Count before, but would like to join in next year, please contact us on freecall 1800 262 062 or via email rtbc@birdsaustralia.com.au.