Fauna: |
Attempts have been made to collect information on Regent Parrots at a landscape scale via public surveys across the SA MDB. This is usually in the form of a sighting diary, made accessible to the public via Local Action Planning groups and the
community events. Other sightings may be randomly reported by the public or natural resources staff. Media releases have
encouraged people to make sightings during the breeding season (August to November). In order to standardise and validate
the public sighting data, and reach out to the wider community, the 1800 Parrot campaign established a freecall number to
receive public calls about Regent Parrot sightings. The campign began in August 2012 promoted by newspaper articles and
regular television ads on local television stations. The television ads continued until early 2013, and the free call line has
remained open, and will continue to remain open until end of 2013 at minimum. Calls were received by the Natural Resources
SAMDB Front desk in Berri in office hours, and then by the Chair of the SA Regent Parrot Recovery Team, Kevin Smith, after
hours. The NR SAMDB front desk team were trained to receive calls and prompt callers for standard information using the
sighting record sheet. Data fields recorded are detailed in the project notes below. Callers were asked questions about the
colour and behaviour of the observed birds to try and double check whether the sighting was a Regent Parrot. All sighting
record sheets were passed onto the Chair of the SA Recovery Team for cross checking and validation. Some validation included follow up phone calls or site visits. In order to map sightings, the sighting location (usually a street name, locality, house address) was converted to map coordinates (Eastings and Northings) by DEWNR SAMDB staff. Using the location name provided by the caller, coordinates were determined using CFS map books, ENV Maps or Google Maps. A coordinate accuracy was assigned. Currently these sightings are being mapped and analysed. A report combining public sighting data with other regent Parrot habitat information will be distributed to the Riverland community. |