GOULDIAN FINCH Erythrura gouldiae - Department of Land ...

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Clutch size averages around five and fledging rate is about one to two young per pair (Tidemann et al. 1999). Depending on the season, pairs may raise several clutches per year. Annual survivorship is very low, with very few recoveries of banded birds from one year to the next (Woinarski and Tidemann 1992). Stand of Eucalyptus tintinnans in the Yinberrie Hills north of Katherine (NT) used as a breeding site (Photo: M. Lewis) Conservation assessment There is evidence of range contraction and anecdotal and quantitative evidence of past population decline for the Gouldian finch. Data from the returns of licensed finch trappers operating in the Kimberley region of Western Australia suggested a rapid decline throughout the 1970s, leading to cessation of the legal trapping industry (Franklin et al. 1999). Gouldian finches are monitored at three sites in the Territory (Yinberrie Hills, Newry Station and Limmen National Park) at intervals of one to few years (including in 2009 and 2010). An internal report on the monitoring over the period 1996-2004 indicated relative stability at Yinberrie Hills (Price et al. ms.), and subsequent results at all sites support this. There has been a large series of records of Gouldian finches in “new” locations across the Top End over the last few years, most notably including frequent records of hundreds near Maningrida, Mary River, and the Gregory – Victoria River District (mostly unpublished records, reported on NT Birds email list). The widespread nature of these records, and the large areas of similar but less accessible habitat, 2 leads to the conclusion that the NT population has stabilised (perhaps is increasing). The absolute size of the adult Gouldian finch population in the NT is difficult to determine, but is probably more than the D1 threshold of 1 000. However, the unusual life history of the species results in the effective population size being smaller than the absolute population size. In particular: (1) the sex ratio of adults is strongly biased towards males, and (2) there may be strikingly low levels of genetic compatibility between different colour morphs, to the extent that “cross-breeding” may lead to very high rates of offspring failure (40-80 per cent of offspring dead within three months in captive experiments: Pryke and Griffith 2009), suggesting a high degree of instability in mixed and isolated populations. The Gouldian finch is considered Vulnerable in the NT (under criterion D1) due to: i. the effective population size estimated to number
2005). Recent research in the Kimberley indicates that the availability of breeding hollows may be more limited, and limiting, than previously thought, and may be significantly reduced by the frequent fire now characteristic of much of the Gouldian finch’s range (Brazill-Boast et al. 2010). There is also new evidence from the Kimberley that the impact of pastoralism and fire on food resources may be very substantial (S. Legge, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, unpubl.). Conservation objectives and management There is a national recovery plan for this species (O’Malley 2006). Management priorities are to: ii. maintain long-term population monitoring via waterhole counts in the late Dry season in selected sites across the species’ range; iii. improve current burning practises through reduction of the extent of late Dry season fires and with special focus on trying to protect the Wet season feeding grounds; and iv. improve communication for on-ground management across different landholder groups on the threatening processes affecting Gouldian finch habitat, including fire management, grazing management and feral herbivore control. Compiled by Carol Palmer John Woinarski Simon Ward [updated December 2012] References Bell, P.J. (1996). Survey of the nasal mite fauna (Rhinonyssidae and Kytoditidae) of the Gouldian Finch, Erythrura gouldiae, and some co-occurring birds in the Northern Territory. Wildlife Research 23, 675-686. Brazill-Boast, J., Pryke, S.R., and Griffith, S.C. (2010). Nest-site utilisation and niche overlap in two sympatric, cavity-nesting finches. Emu 110, 170-177. Dostine, P.L., and Franklin, D.C. (2002). A comparison of the diet of three finch species in the Yinberrie Hills area, Northern Territory. Emu 102, 159-164. Dostine, P.L., Johnson, G.C., Franklin, D.C., Zhang, Y., and Hempel, C. (2001). Seasonal use of savanna landscapes 3 by the Gouldian finch, Erythrura gouldiae, in the Yinberrie Hills area, Northern Territory. Wildlife Research 28, 445-458. Franklin, D.C. (1999). Evidence of disarray amongst granivorous bird assemblages in the savannas of northern Australia: a region of sparse human settlement. Biological Conservation 90, 53-68. Franklin, D.C., Whitehead, P.J., Pardon, G., Matthews, J., McMahon, P., and McIntyre, D. (2005). Geographic patterns and correlates of the decline of granivorous birds in northern Australia. Wildlife Research 32, 399-408. Garnett, S.T., and Crowley, G.M. (1994). Wet-season feeding by four species of granivorous birds in the Northern Territory. Australian Bird-watcher 15, 306-309. Garnett, S.T., and Crowley, G.M. (2000). The Action Plan for Australian Birds, 2000. (Environment Australia, Canberra.) Garnett, S.T., Szabo, J.K., and Dutson, G. (2011). The action plan for Australian Birds 2010. (CSIRO Publishing/Birds Australia, Melbourne.) O’Malley, C. (2006). National Recovery Plan for the Gouldian Finch (Erythrura gouldiae). WWF- Australia, Sydney and Parks and Wildlife NT, Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts, NT Government, Palmerston. Pryke, S.R. and Griffiths, S.C. (2009). Postzygotic genetic incompatibility between sympatric color morphs. Evolution 63, 793-798. Tidemann, S.C. (1990). The relationship between finches and pastoral practices in northern Australia. In: Granivorous Birds and Agriculture. (eds J. Pinowski and J.D. Summers-Smith) pp. 305-315. (PWPN – Polish Scientific Publishers, Warsaw.) Tidemann, S.C., Lawson, C., Elvish, R., Boyden, J., and Elvish, J. (1999). Breeding biology of the gouldian finch Erythrura gouldiae, an endangered finch of northern Australia. Emu 99, 191-199. Tidemann, S.C., McOrist, S., Woinarski, J.C.Z., and Freeland, W.J. (1992). Parasitism of wild Gouldian Finches Erythrura gouldiae by the air sac mite Sternostoma tracheacolum. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 20, 80-84. Woinarski, J.C.Z., and Tidemann, S.C. (1992). Survivorship and some population parameters for the endangered Gouldian Finch Erythrura gouldiae and two other finch species at two sites in tropical northern Australia. Emu 92, 33-38. Woinarski, J.C.Z., Williams, R.J., Price, O., and Rankmore, B. (2005). Landscapes without boundaries: wildlife and their environments in northern Australia. Wildlife Research 32, 377- 388.
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