Abstract: |
This project fulfils a component of the project Threatened Fauna Recovery on Eyre Peninsula, funded by the Australian Government's Natural Heritage Trust through the Eyre Peninsula Natural Resources Management Board's 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 investment strategies. The project aimed to review and update Red-lored Whistler records from Eyre Peninsula. Red-lored Whistlers (Pachycephala rufogularis) are listed as Nationally Vulnerable and are recognised as Endangered in South Australia. Their presence has been recorded at only one site in Pinkawillinie Conservation Park on Eyre Peninsula between 1993 and 1995. These records provided a significant western range extension to the species' previously known distribution in Australia. Despite additional searches in potential habitat on central and northern Eyre Peninsula during the mid-1990s, no other individuals were detected. Call play back surveys undertaken in 2005 and 2006 at 29 sites throughout Pinkawillinie Conservation Park, two sites in Kulliparu Conservation Park and one site on private land failed to detect Red-lored Whistlers. Despite this, it should not be assumed that the species no longer exists in these areas. The Red-lored Whistler can be an elusive bird to observe in the field, especially if it is persisting in small numbers with a restricted distribution, as is expected on Eyre Peninsula. |