Response: The Cockatoos of Collier Park Golf Course

The City of South Perth received a response from Murdoch University on 19 April 2024 in relation to an article titled 'The Cockatoos of Collier Park Golf Course' which was published in mySouthPerth magazine in December 2023. In the interest of transparency and to clarify information in the article the City has published the correspondence (below).

19 April 2024

Re: Inaccurate information in MySouthPerth article, and in February council minutes, with harmful implications for Carnaby’s cockatoos; hoping this can be addressed

Dear Mayor Greg Milner, Deputy Mayor Waugh, Crs. Nevard, Prendiville, Choy, Coveney, Cridland, D’Souza, Brenda-A- Brandis, CEO Michael Bradford, Director Corporate Services Garry Adams, Director Development and Community Services Donna Shaw, and Director Infrastructure Services Anita Amprimo.

I am writing on behalf of Murdoch University’s Black Cockatoo Conservation Management Project team, to let you know about inaccurate information which appeared in MySouthPerth Magazine (Dec 2024), and which may have harmful implications for several flocks of endangered Carnaby’s cockatoos in the City of South Perth that our team and Birdlife Australia have been tracking and monitoring for several years. A recent statement by the City (in the Minutes of Ordinary Council Meeting 27 February 2024) appears to support (rather than correct) the initial misleading information. We hope this letter may be of use to enable correction of the information previously disseminated, and to inform the City’s actions to protect this threatened species.

Murdoch University’s black cockatoo research team – Who we are

The Black Cockatoo Conservation Management Project at Murdoch University is undertaking one of the largest and longest studies of wild cockatoos in the world (https://blackcockatooconservationwa.com), focusing on health, demographics and ecology of WA’s threatened black cockatoos. We have research collaborations with DBCA, Perth Zoo, Kaarakin Black

Cockatoo Conservation Centre, WA Museum, Birdlife Australia and industry partners. Our research addresses key Actions and Objectives in the national Recovery Plans for all three of southwest Western Australian’s black cockatoo species1,2.

Tracking of wild flocks: We have developed a methodology to attach GPS and ARGOS satellite tags to rehabilitated black cockatoos prior to release back into wild flocks. This allows us to track flocks and identify their foraging, roosting and breeding habitat. We have tracked black cockatoo flocks for 15 years, including across the Perth-Peel region.

Provision of advice to government: Our research team provides advice to government at Federal and State level, including DCCEEW, DWER, DEMIRS, EPA Services and the Office of the Appeals Convenor, to inform government regulatory decisions related to clearing of black cockatoo habitat and the development of the new Carnaby’s Cockatoo Recovery Plan. Professor Warren has also been invited to brief the WA Minister for the Environment regarding our research and threats to Carnaby’s cockatoos in the Perth-Peel region.

Support for local government: Our ‘Keep Carnaby’s Flying – Ngoolarks Forever’ project: In 2022, our team was awarded Lotterywest funding to develop and roll out “Keep Carnaby’s Flying – Ngoolarks Forever” (keepcarnabysflying.org.au), our community activation project to address the issue of lack of food for Carnaby’s cockatoos across the Perth-Peel region. We are working with four LGAs per year to help support black cockatoos in their areas, in partnership with Noongar Elders and land-care/revegetation and wildlife NGOs. LGAs with which we worked in 2023 included the Cities of Melville, Cockburn and Wanneroo and the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale. Coming onboard for 2024 are the Cities of Swan, Kwinana, Mandurah and the Town of Cambridge.

For each LGA, we use our flock tracking data and other research to identify important black cockatoo habitat in the LGA for the council to retain (including foraging areas and night-roost trees), and priority locations for planting food species and providing bird water drinking stations. Our research is also enabling us to identify hotspots in each LGA for threats to black cockatoos such as vehicle strike and disease outbreaks linked to poor-quality water; so that the LGA can better manage these threats. We are developing black cockatoo Conservation Action Plans for each of our collaborating LGAs.

Increasing community concern for Carnaby’s cockatoos

As the City of South Perth will be aware, Carnaby’s cockatoos are iconic wildlife in Western Australia. They are charismatic, highly-visible, and consistently poll among the community’s favourite birds. They have strong cultural connections for Noongar people and the wider Perth community. Given their Endangered status under the EPBC Act, due largely to clearing of their habitat (particularly their food sources), they are attracting high rates of community and media attention3.

At a time when Perth-Peel local governments are increasingly interested in what they can do to protect black cockatoos in their City, we anticipate that the City of South Perth will be interested to work on behalf of your residents, to help protect Carnaby’s cockatoos in the City; including by correcting the misleading information released by the City, which, if left uncorrected, has harmful implications for Carnaby’s cockatoos living in the City of South Perth, as outlined below.

Below are the details of this issue, which we are hoping the City of South Perth can address.

Our research team’s engagement with the City following publication of the initial inaccurate information

Following publication of inaccurate statements in the article “The cockatoos of Collier Park Golf Course” in MySouthPerth Magazine (Dec 2023), our research team was contacted by black cockatoo experts at Birdlife Australia and Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre, concerned about risks to Carnaby’s cockatoos from such wide dissemination of misleading information. We understand a black cockatoo specialist from Birdlife Australia was also in touch with the City directly, including possibly the Mayor, Councillors and CEO, to express concern and correct the misleading information.

On behalf of our research team, I phoned the City’s Environment officer. The officer and I spoke on 18 December 2023; all information written here is taken from notes I made at the time. We had a warm and productive discussion, during which I thanked the officer for their efforts to install ‘Cockitroughs’ to give the City’s black cockatoos fresh drinking water4, as well as her plans to plant more native food resources (marri, jarrah and banksia). I mentioned to the officer that I presumed the information in the article about clearing the pine and macadamia must be an error, given how important these trees are as food for Carnaby’s cockatoos; and the officer advised me that that information in the article was not correct; and advised me that the City is planning to retain the pines and the macadamia.

I also mentioned that I presumed the information in the article about pine and macadamia making black cockatoos too heavy to fly must be an error (given it is not true), and again the officer advised she agreed. The officer asked for more information about pine cones and macadamia as high-energy foods for Carnaby’s cockatoos. I advised that pine and macadamia are valuable foods for Carnaby’s cockatoos precisely because they are high-energy foods: In Perth-Peel there is not enough native food (banksia, hakea, marri, jarrah) left, so Carnaby’s cockatoos use pine and macadamia to build their energy reserves to help them migrate and breed successfully. I mentioned that native foods are also critical for Carnaby’s cockatoos as they provide different nutrients (e.g. banksia provides protein and micronutrients), and that in Perth-Peel, Carnaby’s cockatoos feed on both pine and macadamia (when available) and also native foods, to get energy as well as proteins and micronutrients.

Inaccuracy of MySouthPerth Magazine’s claim that pine and macadamia make Carnaby’s cockatoos “too heavy”:

The officer and I discussed the most inaccurate statement in the article:

“Pine and macadamia provide very fat-rich foods and that can lead to the birds becoming too heavy to take off the ground quickly, contributing to frequent bird injuries or fatalities from predator attacks and collisions with cars.” [emphasis added]

I advised that pine and macadamia are important foods for Carnaby’s cockatoos in Perth-Peel, and that the energy content of these foods does not make the birds “too heavy to take off the ground quickly”. I advised that while it is true that Carnaby’s cockatoos are sometimes killed by vehicle-strike, this is not because they are “too heavy” due to eating particular foods. Vehicle strike is often due to black cockatoos drinking water from pot-holes on roads5; black cockatoos are large birds that cannot get airborne as quickly as small birds, and this is unrelated to their diet. I advised the officer that a member of our research team, is a wildlife veterinarian who is currently undertaking an epidemiological study of black cockatoos that have presented for treatment at Perth Zoo and rehabilitation. The research team member advised that of the thousands of wild black cockatoos that have been brought in for treatment over the years, no bird has ever been overweight.

Effective actions to reduce vehicle strike: I mentioned to the officer that her plan to install Cockitroughs is excellent for helping to prevent the City’s Carnaby’s cockatoos from being killed due to vehicle strike (by reducing the need for them to drink from pooled water on/beside roads). Other effective actions for the City to take include road maintenance to remove pot-holes, and ensuring that low-growing food species such as banksia are planted with appropriate set-back distances from roads6. The officer expressed appreciation for this information.

The importance of the pines at Collier Golf Course as a roost site: I let the officer know that the pine trees around Collier Park Golf Course are critical to retain, as they are one of the largest black cockatoo roost sites in the area. Roost sites are scarce in the Perth-Peel region, and retention of roost trees is important to support Carnaby’s cockatoos. With respect to legislative responsibilities, as the City will be aware, the EPBA Act referral guidelines for WA’s black cockatoos state that clearing of a roost or part of a roost is likely to be a “significant impact” to black cockatoo conservation, and any proposal to clear a black cockatoo roost tree requires referral to DCCEEW under the EPBC Act.

New roost habitat: The officer mentioned the possibility of the City planting flooded gums as roost habitat. I advised that our black cockatoo research team recommends marri and jarrah, because flooded gums do not provide food for black cockatoos, whereas marri provides both food and roosts for all three black cockatoo species, and jarrah provides food and roosts for Carnaby’s cockatoos and forest red-tailed black cockatoos.

Macadamias as creche trees: I also advised the officer that macadamia trees are important to retain (and plant more of) not only for food, but because they can provide day roost “creche” habitat for young Carnaby’s cockatoos, when they first return to Perth from the breeding grounds with their parents and are not strong enough to spend the day flying with the flock. Parent birds use the dense canopies of macadamia trees as creche trees and ‘drop off’ the young birds in the trees to shelter during the day; collecting them on the way back to the roost each night. The officer was very interested in this information.

The officer and my phone chat was fruitful and interesting. I was happy to give the officer my direct email address, in case they ever had further questions about black cockatoos and how best to safeguard their food resources and roost habitat in the City of South Perth, to ensure the City’s flocks are protected.

The City’s support for the misinformation in the MySouthPerth article, in recent council meeting minutes

Given the warm and fruitful discussion between the City’s officer and myself in December 2023 (detailed above) and her confirmation that the MySouthPerth article was incorrect in claiming that pine and macadamia can cause black cockatoos to become too heavy to escape predation and vehicle-strike, it was disappointing to read the comments on p143 of Ordinary Council Meeting - 27 February 2024 - Minutes, which I have been advised were provided by the Director of Corporate Services, stating that:

“The article does not contain misinformation…”.

The above statement by the City is not correct: the article does contain misinformation, and this misinformation is significant. As detailed above, the claim that pine and macadamia are foods which can make Carnaby’s cockatoos too heavy to fly, thereby increasing their risk of death, is both incorrect and harmful to Carnaby’s cockatoo conservation across the Perth-Peel region. Given that our team, as well as Birdlife Australia and others, contacted the City with concerns about the article in December 2023 and provided accurate information to correct the errors, and following the support I received for doing this from the City’s Environmental Coordinator during our conversation, it is confusing if the City is now not acknowledging the article’s inaccuracies when questioned by a concerned resident7.

Significance of not addressing this misinformation: This incorrect information has been distributed to ~40,000 residents and businesses across the City of South Perth. The potential harm to black cockatoos from not addressing this misinformation is significant: the City’s residents may now make decisions to remove pine or macadamia on their properties (or support the clearing of these trees in general) based on this inaccurate information; when in fact pine and macadamia are important to retain (and replant) to help safeguard Carnaby’s cockatoos across the Perth-Peel region.

Risk of misinformed actions by City personnel: Not addressing the misinformation that is contained in the article (and that is potentially now held by some City personnel) also has the potential to harm endangered Carnaby’s cockatoos, particularly if the City’s personnel use this incorrect information to guide decisions and actions regarding the City’s trees and biodiversity. Actions to protect the City’s Carnaby’s cockatoos and biodiversity require recognition by all relevant departments and personnel that pine and macadamia are important Carnaby’s cockatoo food trees and roosts.

The City’s reported consultation with black cockatoo experts: In council meeting Minutes (27 February 2024, p143), it is stated that plans to remove pine at Collier Park Golf Course were created “in consultation with experts on Black Carnaby’s Cockatoos”. We wonder which organisation was consulted. As noted above, organisations with extensive experience in black cockatoo conservation and management, including Birdlife Australia, Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre and Murdoch University’s Black Cockatoo Conservation Management Project team, have all expressed concern about the seriousness of the inaccuracies in the MySouthPerth article. I understand that members of the Carnaby’s Cockatoo Recovery Team and the Wildlife Protection Branch at DBCA have also been informed of the inaccuracies, and about concerns regarding risks to Carnaby’s cockatoos if this misinformation is not corrected. Given these concerns from specialist organisations, it is likely that if the City consulted with experts, there was a miscommunication and misunderstanding by the City – which it may be important to clarify.

Recommended specialists to consult: Birdlife Australia is an appropriate initial organisation for local governments to contact, for queries related to management of black cockatoo habitat, including decisions related to their food trees and roost habitat. Birdlife Australia is also the appropriate organisation for the City and others to contact, regarding the best locations for installing ‘Cockitroughs’6.

We hope the City of South Perth will be keen to address the City’s accidental dissemination of misinformation quickly and effectively, to minimise the risk that pine and macadamia will be cleared based on this misinformation; and to prevent this misinformation from spreading further than it already has. This would include by providing correct information to the City’s residents and, importantly, to all relevant City staff, to ensure their actions do not further threaten Carnaby’s cockatoos.

Important correct information to disseminate to the City’s residents and City personnel includes:

• Pine and macadamia are important food sources for endangered Carnaby’s cockatoos in the City of South Perth.

• Pine and macadamia do not make black cockatoos “too heavy” to get airborne quickly, nor do they increase the risk of predation/vehicle strike. This claim in the MySouthPerth article is incorrect. Pine and macadamia help, rather than harm, Carnaby’s cockatoos.

• As well as being important food sources for Carnaby’s cockatoos, pine is one of the most useful roost trees for Carnaby’s cockatoos in the City of South Perth. In particular, the pines at the Collier Park Golf Course are a known important roost site for Carnaby’s cockatoos. Removal of trees that form part of a roost for black cockatoos is considered likely to be a ‘significant impact’ to Endangered black cockatoos (EPBC Act) and a plan to do so would likely require referral under the Act.

We hope that this letter can be forwarded to relevant personnel within the City involved with tree planting, biodiversity conservation and management of parks, golf courses and POS, to ensure that the City’s personnel have accurate information to protect the City’s Carnaby’s cockatoos. This would help to address the previous dissemination by the City of inaccurate information that is harmful to Carnaby’s cockatoo conservation.

We appreciate the opportunity to provide this letter. Murdoch University’s black cockatoo research team commends all efforts by the City of South Perth and other Perth-Peel LGAs to safeguard Carnaby’s cockatoos, by protecting the foraging and roosting habitat that is used by local flocks.

Yours sincerely,
School of Veterinary Medicine
College of Science, Health, Engineering & Education
Murdoch Universit

Footnotes:
1.) Department of Environment and Conservation. (2007) Forest Black Cockatoo (Baudin's Cockatoos Calyptorhychus baudinii and Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus banksii naso) Recovery Plan 2007-2016. (Perth, Western Australia).
2.) Department of Environment and Conservation. (2012) Carnaby's Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) Recovery Plan. (Perth, Western Australia).
3.) See https://www.blackcockatoocrisis.com.au/
4.) Black cockatoos have been recorded to die en masse on hot days without access to water; and our research is also investigating deaths of numerous Carnaby’s cockatoos in some LGAs from drinking contaminated water when councils have not provided clean water.
5.) Black cockatoos often drink water from rain or sprinklers that has pooled on/beside roads; this can be mitigated by providing alternative clean water sources.
6.) The appropriate organisation for councils to consult on these actions is Birdlife Australia (Merryn Pryor is the Black Cockatoo Coordinator, at time of writing). Birdlife Australia can provide details of recommended set-back distances of food trees from roads (depending on road speed/location), and Birdlife can advise where to install Cockitroughs, to ensure these are installed at appropriate locations. There are specific factors to take into account when siting Cockitroughs, including close proximity to major roost sites, which Birdlife Australia will have detailed information about.
7.) It is of concern that when the MySouthPerth article’s inaccuracies were identified by a concerned and well-informed resident, the City appears to have inferred publicly in writing that the resident is wrong: i.e. in response to the resident’s statement that the article contained inaccuracies, the City stated (p143 of Ordinary Council Meeting - 27 February 2024 - Minutes): “Whilst we are happy for you to have and share your opinion. The article does not contain misinformation…etc”. That wording appears to represent a public claim by the City that the resident’s statement (that the article contained inaccuracies) is false, when in fact the resident is correct. To infer in a public document that a named resident is wrong, when they are in fact correct, would be of concern with respect to the resident’s reputation; and would be a particularly unexpected claim for the City to make, given that the City had already been made aware of the article’s misinformation by our research team and other black cockatoo specialists shortly after the article’s publication, including during fruitful discussions between the City’s Environmental Coordinator and a member of our research team in December 2023, and (I have been advised) in a letter to the City of South Perth from a black cockatoo specialist from Birdlife Australia.