Gill Basnett, at very short notice, gave us a truly wonderful insight into Gouldian Finches and Fire regimes in the Kimberley, a topic she was well qualified to handle having done extensive ecological fieldwork in central Kimberley. Gouldians live in the largest savannah in the world and one which has been subjected to various fire ‘controls’ over the centuries with varying consequences, some being disasters and others workable. Fire is a vital necessity to maintain healthy bushland quantified by: the right kind of fire, frequency, intensity, timing (season) and how extensive. Some adult plants may be killed by fire but quickly regenerate from ‘fired up’ seeds, others sprout from epicormic buds and still others regenerate from rootstock or tubers – provided the fires are properly managed and not overdone. Early aboriginal firing by early season, low key mozaics appear to have worked well and the likes of Gouldians and other wildlife thrived. Then things began to change with the aboriginals drifting to cattle stations etc and a different life. The vegetation built up, and many fires from lightning and station burns became disasters and where Gouldian numbers used to be in their tens of thousands there are estimated to be around only 2,500 today with numbers fluctuating seasonally. Ferals such as donkeys, cats and stock, not to mention illegal trapping by fanciers, have all helped to create setbacks to native birdlife. Gouldians were in big trouble!
Mornington Wilderness Camp has established a Recovery Programme for the Gouldian and Long-tailed finches and is investigating such things as food sources, e.g., what fills the seed gap between the early and late seeding of native grasses. Spinifex was found to be the answer. Do the red-heads and the black-heads interbreed? Yes, but very poorly and they only mate this way if the compatible coloured mate doesn’t show up at the right time. How does the grazing of stock affect the health and breeding of the above birds? Absence of any other than native mammals was found to be much better all round. And then of course there has been much research into the business of the fire regime resulting in mostly early season and rotated burning practices thus allowing the bush to maintain its diversity and provide close-at-hand food sources for the locals. Gouldians are fussy feeders and though good fliers, fare better if the table is set close at hand and hollows in Snappy Gums are plentiful.
ECOFIRE, a group now in its seventh year and comprised of universities, AWC and aboriginal stakeholders now involves 14 different properties and Mornington itself has large, totally protected areas.
The lifespan of Gouldians is around one to two years in the wild but up to four to five years in captivity. The catch with a captive breeding programme is that ‘pampered’ finches don’t survive in the wild – it’s a tough life out there and one which birds need to grow up with to know all the survival tricks of the trade! Pity though. However, Gouldian numbers have rallied to the point where they have been delisted from the number 5 Priority List. The wisdom of this move is questioned by some: just maybe, some other unthought of factor such as migration from elsewhere might be partly responsible for the exciting rise in the numbers of these colourful little gems of birds.
Kevn Griffiths