"Caddy" - a Quirk of Nature

by Beris Jenkins

A small swampy came into care with me last August after a motor vehicle accident. He had no injuries and was perfectly healthy but he did have a significantly malformed upper jaw.

He could drink with a teat and eat as he got older but could never lap water.

Nature is wonderful - Caddy learnt to cup his paw and bring the water to his mouth where he licked it off. Time consuming for sure, but it worked.

He was released recently and I am confident he will survive. I will miss him with his funny little face. A beautiful boy!

Boobook Owl Reunited with Parents

by Alan Nash

A young boobook owl fledgling was found laying in a Moruya gutter. A few days after rescuing him I put him in his carrier about 40 feet from a tree with hollows and removed the cover. I then backed across the road to let him adjust to the light, smells and sounds around him.

After 20 minutes you could hear him busting to go and also hear an owl parent calling. I tipped the carrier over on its side and out he came. He flew straight up to the tree hollow followed by his parents. The members of the public who had reported the lost owl fledgling, Brad and wife Mel, were over the moon and so was I. A very successful result.

Billy Down Below

by Zora Brown

I rescued this 2.7kg kangaroo joey from under a house on Boxing Day, a challenging rescue indeed!

He was in a very tight space, and not coming out, no matter what we tried. He had been without his mum at least 4 days.

Thank goodness a large capture net could reach him with just enough space to drag him out.

The onlookers all clapped as he was put into a pouch. The daughter of the house named him Billy.

He is now in the care of Clare Hamer.

South Coast Koala Repopulation

The Federal Government is investing $200,000 to restore and improve habitat for koalas in the Eurobodalla and Shoalhaven.

6000 trees will be planted at six locations across private properties, State Forests and National Parks connecting habitat to create safer passages for koalas to breed and forage, and removing weeds that are a fire risk and prevent koalas from moving freely.

"The once-flourishing and visible population has been dwindling since the 1968 bushfires. However, there have been two recorded koala sightings since the devastating Black Summer bushfires around Bodalla and East Lynne. Coastwatchers Association spokesperson Keith Joliffe says the sightings suggest there may be a koala population surviving in the area which could return under the right circumstances.”

There have been past sightings of Koalas in Murramarang National Park, but they are becoming increasingly rare. Drones with thermal imaging capacity will be used to find and monitor koalas in the Park.

Ref: James Hennessy, Boost for South Coast Koalas, 2EC Radio, 11 December 2023; ABC News, 14 December 2023.

Hailstorm Kills Corellas

A hailstorm in Grenfell, in central west NSW, on Christmas day, has killed and injured hundreds of native animals.

The hail was reportedly the size of cricket balls. WIRES volunteer Wayne Lavers, found an estimated 300 corellas lying dead or dying on his property.

"You name it, they had broken bones, smashed in skulls, there were dead birds falling out of trees [and] lying all over the ground. It was full on."

He and another WIRES volunteer had to euthanise many of them. There were about 40 survivors that had to be taken into care until they could be vet assessed. Wayne believes many of the corellas were newly fledged.

Ref: Laura Koefoed, Horrific find on Aussie property as birds 'smashed to pieces' in hailstorm, Yahoo! News, 29 December 2023.

Humpback Whale Freed

A team from National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) successfully removed 20 metres of rope and two fishing buoys that a humpback whale was entangled in off Murramarang National Park on New Year’s Eve. They were assisted by Marine Rescue Batemans Bay.

The Large Whale Disentanglement Team disentangled seven whales in 2023 and worked with SeaWorld to free another. This whale was migrating late in the season which is normally between May and November.

"NPWS says that unfortunately, there have been a record 45 reported entanglements in 2023, surpassing the previous highest total of 43 in 2019…

"If you see a possibly injured or entangled whale, immediately contact 13000 PARKS (1300 072 757). Note the time, your location, the whale’s direction of travel and speed, look for injuries and identifying marks and take photographs of the entangling material to help rescuers bring the most suitable gear to remove it. If possible, try to keep watch until help arrives.”

It is illegal to be closer than 30m to a whale. See Approaching marine mammals in NSW.

Ref: Genevieve Jacobs, Humpback whale freed from metres of fishing line and floats off Murramarang, About Regional, 1 January 2024.

Eden Penguin Chick a First

Little penguins have been extinct in Eden for 30 years but last year a female came ashore and laid two eggs and one hatched. The chick is the first born on mainland NSW, outside of Manly in Sydney, in 30 years.

There was once a colony of little penguins in the Eagles Claw Nature Reserve in Eden. They would nest in the undergrowth there but predators and local erosion meant that the colony was gone by the early 1990s.

In an effort to create the right conditions for a new colony to be established in the reserve, fences have been installed along the cliff top above the reserve to keep out dogs and foxes. An artificial burrow made from concrete has been installed that has a curved entrance that will keep goannas out.

In an Australian-first, researchers installed a "solar-powered audio system that blasts mating sounds recorded from penguins on the nearby Montague Island/Baranguba out across Twofold Bay during mating season.”

The sound system attracted a mating pair of penguins and they made their nest there. It is hoped that in coming years more little penguins will nest there and the colony will be reestablished.

Ref: James Tugwell, Penguin chick born in Eden for the first time in 30 years holds hopes in re-establishing colony, ABC News, 10 October 2023.

Frogs in Farm Dams

Researchers at Deakin University and the Australian Museum have used citizen recordings of frogs to study the role farm dams play in conserving frogs.

Freshwater habitats are threatened around the world giving rise to high rates of species extinctions. Frogs are particularly vulnerable to environmental change and the environmental health of frogs can be an indicator for what is happening to other freshwater fauna.

"Gathering data from across Australia to answer this question has only just become possible thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of citizen scientists and a new spatial database of Australian farm dams.”Amongst the 107 species detected from citizen recordings at dams, were a number of threatened species.

"The farm dams that supported the greatest number of frog species were old (>20 years), of a medium size (0.1 ha in surface area), near other freshwater systems such as streams or natural wetlands, near conservation sites and situated within small or medium water catchments (<10 ha)."

Ref: Jody Rowley, Can farm dams help support frog conservation? Australian Museum, 14 September 2023.

Cardboard Habitat Pods

Ecologist Alexandra Carthey has designed biodegradable flat-pack habitat pods that can be used after bush fires, floods and droughts to provide shelter and cover for native animals.

Her design won a $55,000 grant from Taronga Conservation Society Australia. "The prize will allow her to make between 7000 and 10,000 pods for the coming bushfire season. The pods are designed to break down after 12 months and provide valuable nutrients for insects, on which native animals can feast. Carthey hopes the pods also will enable her to do broader-scale restoration works on habitats."

Ref: Laura Chung and Angus Dalton, Cardboard ‘rocketships’: How NSW plans to prevent another billion wildlife deaths, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 July 2023.

Floods Good for Waterbirds

Each year scientists survey waterbirds in eastern Australia. Flooding and increased water flows have seen an increase in waterbirds in recent years but populations are in decline over the longterm and wetland habitat is decreasing.

"The scientists recorded little breeding activity overall in 2023 and the area of wetlands surveyed had decreased to 192,083 ha, a significant fall from 326,768 ha in the flood year of 2022 and well below the long term average of 281,209 ha."

Ref: Lisa Cox, Floods and environmental flows a boon for south-east Australia’s waterbirds, survey shows, The Guardian, 12 December 2023.