Extinct on the mainland, the last few hundred South Australian Glossy Black-Cockatoos only exist on Kangaroo Island.
The devastating bushfires on Kangaroo Island in the summer of 2019-20 burnt half the island, about 210,000 hectares, including the largest patches of feeding and breeding habitat of the Glossy Black-Cockatoo.
Bio·R has set up a Glossies Fire Recovery Fund to be used specifically to support on-ground conservation work to assist the Glossy Black-Cockatoos on Kangaroo Island. Funds raised have already been used to grow 1150 Drooping Sheoaks (Allocasuarina verticillata), the main food source of the Glossies. Along with another 6000 sheoaks, these seedlings were planted out from May to August 2020, across 44 properties on Kangaroo Island, to enhance the Glossies’ food resources. Fifty of these seedlings were planted on Bio·R’s Cygnet Park Sanctuary.
If you are concerned with the plight of the Glossy Black-Cockatoos and want to contribute to their recovery, please donate in the box to the right.
All Australian donations of $2 or more are tax deductible and 100% of funds after processing will be used to help the birds. Read below for more information.
The plight of the Kangaroo Island Glossy Black-Cockatoos is a cause close to Bio·R’s roots. Our first project was revegetating 175 hectares of farmland at Cygnet Park Sanctuary, near Kingscote, where we hosted our first community planting festival. These plantings established large stands of Drooping Sheoak, a vital food source for Glossies.
Every year since 2009, we have monitored what birds are using the property. As the planted sheoaks have matured and set seed, Glossies have been regularly recorded feeding in them. The birds also breed in the large gums along the Cygnet River that bisects the property.
The fires that tore through Cygnet Park Sanctuary in early January 2020 burned the northern portion of this revegetation, but most of the property – including the large trees that the Glossies nest in and most of their feeding habitat – was spared. The numbers of Glossies found using Cygnet Park Sanctuary since the fires have doubled.
The Glossy Black-Cockatoo Recovery Program, established in 1995 because of a population of less than 200 birds, saw the population double in about 20 years through planting sheoaks and protecting nest hollows. However, funding for the program was cut in 2018 and, while funding was reinstated in 2020 in response to the fires, there is no long-term funding security and there is a risk that the program will be discontinued in the future. With your donation, Bio·R can continue to offer financial assistance to this program.
Amidst the destruction from these fires, there is hope for recovery, with a groundswell of support and the right efforts from passionate people.
Thank you for your support.
June 8-9, 15-16 & 22-23
