Kleinfelder have been engaged by the Hunter Local Land Services for a number of years to conduct woodland bird monitoring of the Wybong Creek Catchment, in order to support the Catchment Health Improvement Project (CHIP) and to report on results to provide an indication of the overall ecological health of the catchment.

Project Objectives

The results of the woodland bird monitoring aim to inform management actions to improve native vegetation integrity, habitat connectivity, pasture management and noxious animal / weed control.

Kleinfelder Methodology

In 2012, 16 permanent monitoring points were established within the catchment, in five broad habitat classes: riparian, grassland, woodland, dry forest and wet forest. Monitoring surveys were conducted in 2012, 2013, 2014, and again in Autumn and Spring of 2020.

A total of 128 bird species have been recorded across the 16 monitoring locations from 2012 – 2020, and 26 species recorded were significant either because they are listed under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW), Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Commonwealth), are infrequently recorded in the region or are a declining woodland species. Species detected include Dusky Woodswallow, Grey-crowned Babbler and Speckled Warbler (all three are listed as threatened species in NSW), as well as the Hooded Robin, Regent Honeyeater and Diamond Firetail.

Project Results

Kleinfelder’s ecologists’ analysis of the monitoring results found that the total number of bird species recorded year to year indicates that species diversity, calculated for each vegetation type, is generally increasing over time.

The analysis also demonstrated that bird species richness is positively correlated with time for all habitat classes, indicating that greater numbers of bird species are being recorded over time. Furthermore, the numbers of indicator species are continuing to rise with greater detections across multiple sites within each survey event.

Further recommendations to improve the monitoring program have also been provided to the client.

Project Details

Location:
Wybong, NSW

Owner:
Hunter Local Land Services