A project to plant native vegetation along a stretch of land from the Blue Mountains to the Southern Tablelands is slowly bringing back one of Australia’s most iconic birds, the glossy black cockatoo.

The glossy black cockatoo is one of the most threatened species of cockatoo in Australia and have been listed as vulnerable in NSW since 2016. Habitat loss in the form of tree-clearing has been the biggest threat to the birds’ survival, hence the need to plant vegetation to support the bird

The Glossies in the Mist project is being rolled out by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage as part of the Saving our Species program. Over 12,000 she-oak trees, which produce the essential nut the birds forage for, have been provided to 400 properties in a corridor between the mountains and the Southern Tablelands. 

Impressively, the project has already led to a significant increase in reported sightings of the cockatoos, with over 400 recorded since the project began. It’s expected the additional vegetation will also be a big boon to other species suffering from habitat loss in the region.

Glossies in the Mist coordinator Lauren Hook said that landholders in the area had been incredible in their willingness to support the work being done.

“Private landholders are having the greatest impact by reporting sightings and conserving she-oak feed trees on their properties,” Hook said in a statement.

“Their willingness to assist in helping us understand whether these glossies have enough food and breeding resources in the corridor is making a significant contribution to this project.”

 

Positive Action

• The Glossies in the Mist project continues to look for landholders in the Greater Western Wildlife Corridor to contribute to the program. Find out more on the Glossies in the Mist project page.
• Support our local Australian fauna by planting a native (or a few!) as part of National Tree Day 2019.

 

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Positive Environment News has been compiled using publicly available information. Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes.