Us by Honeyeaters and Parrots of a Brown Mallet Plantation and an Arobretum at Dryandra Woodland, Western Australia, at a Time of Year When Few Other Nectar Resouces Were Available

2012·1.4 MB·English

by  William E Jr Davis

THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN
NATURALIST
Vol. 28 27th January 2012 No. 2
USE BY HONEYEATERS AND PARROTS OF A BROWN
MALLET PLANTATION AND AN ARBORETUM AT
DRYANDRA WOODLAND, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AT A
TIME OF YEAR WHEN FEW OTHER NECTAR RESOURCES
WERE AVAILABLE
By WILLIAM E. DAVIS, JR.
Professor Emeritus, Boston University, 23 Knollwood Drive, East
Falmouth, MA 02536, USA. Email: [email protected]
and
HARRY F. RECHER
School of Natural Sciences, Edith Cowan University,
Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia
Current address: P.O. Box 154, Brooklyn, NSW 2003, Australia.
Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
We report on nectar foraging for five species of honeyeater
and three species of parrots at a Brown Mallet (Eucalyptus
astringens) plantation and an arboretum at Dryandra
Woodland, Western Australia, during spring and compare
these to nectar foraging on Dryandra spp. nectar in nearby
shrublands. The arboretum and mallet plantations provide
nectar when flowers are scarce in adjacent woodlands and
shrublands and are therefore presently useful for the
conservation of nectar-feeders in Dryandra Woodland.
INTRODUCTION nectar resources that differ in
their spatial and temporal
Many honeyeaters (Meliphagidae)
availability (Keast 1968; Ford 1977;
and parrots (Psittacidae) use
Ford and Paton 1977). Because of
nectar and rely on a sequence of
the spatial and temporal
69
variability in nectar resources, birds is limited. We report here
identifying nectar resources in on the use of nectar in the
major habitat types is necessary arboretum and a mallet
to ensure that conservation of plantation in August and
honeyeaters and parrots occurs October, 1997 by honeyeaters and
on spatial and temporal scales parrots, and compare these to the
large enough to accommodate use of nectar in naturally
the movements of the birds. The occurring Dryandra shrublands
problem is that the incremental nearby.
loss of even small nectar
resources in the sequence may
METHODS
cause the progressive decline of
nectar-feeders, regardless of the Dryandra Woodland is a Class A
amount of nectar available at Conservation Reserve (centred
other times or locations (Recher on 32°45'S, 116°55'E) near the
1999; Ford eta12001). town of Narrogin, Western
We studied the foraging ecology Australia. The two plots were
of honeyeaters in wandoo chosen because of a seasonal
woodland and Dryandra shrub- abundance of nectar-rich
lands in Dryandra Woodland in flowers. The arboretum is located
which we determined what on Tomingley Road at the
honeyeaters were present during intersection with Firetower Road
in Dryandra Woodland. The
winter and spring, the nectar
mallet plantation studied is
resources used by honeyeaters,
and the temporal patterns of adjacent to the arboretum. The
nectar availability and use mallet plot was approximately 14
(Recher and Davis 2011). We also 400 m2, with an average canopy
monitored the use of nectar by height of 11 m. Mallet plantations
nectar-feeders in an arboretum, at Dryandra lack an understorey,
with few shrubs and little
dominated by Banksia, Hahea,
and Eucalyptus species that are ground vegetation. The arbor¬
not native to Dryandra Wood¬ etum plot consisted mostly of 3-
land, and in a plantation of 5 m shrubs, and was about 1 ha in
area. The mallet flowered from
Brown Mallet (Eucalyptus
August through October. At the
astringens). Brown Mallet is native
same time, there was an
to Dryandra Woodland, but
originally had a limited distri¬ abundance of blossom in the
bution within the reserve. arboretum (primarily Hahea and
However, extensive plantations exotic eucalypts).
of Brown Mallet were established The mallet plantation was
in the 1920s and 1930s and these visited by WED for 48 minutes
are now one of the most in August 1997 over two days,
extensive habitats in Dryandra when flowering had com¬
Woodland. Despite this, in¬ menced, and 160 minutes over
formation on their use, if any, by six days in October, 1997 when
70
the Mallet was in full flower. He the primary source of nectar for
visited the arboretum for 143 honeyeaters (Recher and Davis
minutes in October, 1997. Plots 2011). Species came into blossom
were visited between 0700-1200 in sequence with D. nobilis the
h, with a few visits in the first to bloom in abundance,
afternoon. WED recorded the with the smaller D. sessilis and D.
bird species, a single foraging armata following. When D. nobilis
manoeuvre for each bird was in heavy blossom, few
foraging on nectar, and the plant honeyeaters used the arboretum
species. WED tried to avoid or mallet plantation where
repeat observations by moving nectar was limited in com¬
continually, but some birds may parison. As the abundance of
have been recorded more than nectar from D. nobilis lessened,
once. Wandoo (Eucalyptus Red and Western Wattlebirds
wandoo) and Powderbark (E. shifted to foraging in the
accedens), the dominant eucalypts arboretum and mallet
at Dryandra Woodland outside plantation.
of the mallet plantations, flower
Mallet commenced flowering in
during summer and autumn. early August and became a
During our study, only indi¬
primary source of nectar for Red
vidual trees or branches
Wattlebirds (n=31; 48 min), which
flowered, and produced meagre
had fed earlier largely on
nectar resources.
shrubland Dryandra nobilis,
which had mostly finished
blossoming by August (Recher
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
and Davis 2011). By October,
Data were recorded for five
when D. sessilis and D. armata had
species of honeyeaters and three largely finished flowering
species of parrots on the arbor¬ (Recher and Davis 2011), Red
etum and plantation plots: Brown Wattlebirds foraged in the
Honeyeater (Lichmera indistincta), mallet, but in diminished
New Holland Honeyeater numbers (n=ll; 160 min). No
(Phylidonyris novaehollandiae), Western Wattlebirds foraged in
Singing Honeyeater
the mallet in August, but were
(Lichenostomus virescens), Red the dominant honeyeater in
Wattlebird (A nthochaera October utilizing mallet (n=35;
carunculata), Western Wattlebird 160 min), and the arboretum
(A. lunulata), and Port Lincoln (n=80; n=143 min). Port Lincoln
Parrot (Barnardius zonarius), Red- Parrots foraged for mallet nectar
capped Parrot (Purpureicephalus in the plantation in August
spurius), and Western Rosella (n=13; 48 min) and October (n=40;
(Platycercus icterotis). 160 min). Red-capped Parrots
During winter and spring in (n=3) and Western Rosella (n=2)
Dryandra Woodland, inflor¬ took mallet nectar in October,
escences of Dryandra species were but not August. Brown Honey-
71
eaters used the mallet in October plantings of nectar-rich shrubs,
(n=6), but not in August, while such as Hakea, would assist in
continuing to forage in reduced retaining a full complement of
numbers for nectar in the nectar-feeders in Dryandra
shrublands (Recher and Davis Woodland.
2011). New Holland Honeyeaters
also used the shrublands through
October, but in October were REFERENCES
recorded in the arboretum
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October. The arboretum was the
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(n=6). They were recorded by
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2011. Observations of the foraging
bark this should be done
ecology of honeyeaters
incrementally to allow nectar-
(Meliphagidae) at Dryandra
feeders time to adapt to seasonal
Woodland, Western Australia.
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Retaining the arboretum, or even
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enhancing it with further
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