March 25, 2014

Sanctuary Cove Waterbird Update for the last week in March 2014

Rainer Ebel,  graejayatshaw.ca ; Marine Dr. East, Sanctuary Cove QLD

I have been somewhat remiss by not publishing on a weekly basis. I had to briefly skip town to visit friends in Tasmania. This lost the momentum I had earlier, and upon my return, I spent the time inputting data, catching up on surveys, or banding birds.  My Rubric’s cube is also twisted with family members, birthdays, and deaths.  The day is arriving that my only option is to pack up house and carry all the accumulated data north where I sit to complete the various reports that are due. Believe me, it is that sweet but, just try sitting in a cold climate thinking tropical birds and hot weather.  The northern hemisphere is beginning to push its winter blanket back.  In Alberta, birds are beginning to flow into the province from south. The green may be peeking from under the snow blanket by the end of April.  Ok, enough, right.    

                                                                                                                                

 So, what are those waterbirds doing for the past few weeks on Sanctuary Cove.

If we look at Figure 1 we see some highs, some lows followed with some gains in the last half of March.  God, this sound like at stock market report.  I arrived at the graph numbers by dividing the total number of birds counted by the area or 175.25 hectares, the total area of the Pines and Palms. This means that, say on 28 February there were 30.6 birds per hectare of land.  I’d say: Unique; that many birds sharing their space with golfers. I could have used the pond area but such species as the Australian White Ibis, Purple Swamphen, Eurasian Coot, and Masked Lapwing just to name a few while are near ponds they are also found some distance from any particular pond, foraging in all available habitats.  Therefore, it was just easier to use the total golf course area instead of pond hectares.

From the 16 January to the 28 February the waterbird population of both golf courses, gradually and steadily increased but immediately thereafter total numbers took a bit of a nosedive, bottoming out on the 20 March.  On that day we had to compete with a corporate challenge of some description, which may have affected bird numbers. However, visually the majority of birds were absent from the survey area. We also started later than usual which may also contributed to the lower than expected numbers. Perhaps a future study should address the effects of golfer activity on resident waterbird numbers.  On the last survey date 25 March, we did notice a huge increase of Australian White Ibis on both golf courses.  We counted 400 birds.  In contrast, the 20 March, there were only 40 birds present and on 7 March, a mere 26 birds were scattered evenly throughout the Pines and Palms.  The horde of sanitary engineers had arrived to clean the greens.  On the evening of 28 March, an estimate of 600 ibis littered the pines.  It occurred to me while driving about the Pines that the Pines, more so than the Palms may be used as a moulting site by ibis as well as other species such as the Long-billed and Little corellas.  All the conditions of water, food, and shelter are met for some of these species afterall how does one account for all the feathers lying about in Sanctuary Cove?

Whats new 2 March 2014

What’s new on the Golf Course: 2 March, 2014

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Rainer Ebel, 7114 Marine Dr. East, Sanctuary Cove, 4212; eckebel at gmail.com.

Yup, numbers for the furry animal you love to hate on the fairway at Sanctuary Cove goes up one week followed by an corresponding drop the next.  Not overly surprising but certainly mystifying especially since we think kangas live in a managed environment their movements are restricted by residential areas with roads, urban predators such as dogs, and a tidal river system and yet, the wide fluctuations we encounter on some surveys suggest something might be happening.  If the population was static, we should observe kanga numbers with a small spread between high and low counts but not the dramatic fluctuation of 248 to 385 animals we had on the 19 January and 23 February, respectively (Table1).

Table 1.  Weekly gender distribution of Eastern Grey Kangaroos on  the Palms and Pines
Description	12-Jan	19	26	05-Feb	11	16	23	02-Mar	Average
Total	258	248	392	328	343	310	385	313	322
Male	39	36	65	51	82	81	89	98	68
Female	147	109	183	158	152	131	171	119	146
Joey	17	38	63	48	32	23	24	18	33
Joey In Pouch	23	21	46	44	47	49	62	45	42
Uncl	32	44	35	29	30	26	39	33	34
Marked	14	22	45	23	30	40	28	30	29
% marked	5.5	8.9	11.5	7.0	6.7	12.9	7.3	9.6	9
Pines	240	226	357	316	323	292	370	291	302
Palms	15	22	45	12	20	18	15	22	21

Eastern Greys also occur in the gated grassland area west of the Pines 13^th Fairway.  Our best estimate for that subpopulation is 55-60 animals whose behaviour towards humans is drastically opposite the golf course clan. Both the golf course and the gated clan visit each other by swimming around the wire mesh fence and loafing near the back of the Pines 14 and 15^th.

How do we get these numbers? I started the weekly survey in early 2012 using the best estimate based on the 1-2-3 method of counting.  An assistant and I, on a golf cart, follow a predetermined route of 27km through both golf courses.  The survey starts at 06:00 hours and generally lasts no more than three hours..  For each kangaroo observation, a total is taken; each animal is scanned for sex, a degree of “pouchness” or “pregnancy”, and the presence or absence of an ear tag.  If we cannot identify the creature’s sexness , it is designed as unclassified.  Joeys are usually unclassified but on occasion, as we drive by or position ourselves accordingly they expose their gender to us.  As my mate would say, who in their right might mind would leave their warm bed on a Sunday morning to view roo genitalia?  Yes indeed, “nous sommes une rive gauche,  n’est-ce que?”

 Counting kangaroos in close quarters appears straightforward, but it is far from easy requiring a degree of patience, stealth and rudimentary knowledge of kanga behaviour.  They exhibit a propensity for becoming invisible or intentionally hide, they position themselves often on the shadow side of hills, they move around, and blend into their surroundings in the pine trees or the palm dominated scrub copse.  Unconcerned course walkers with or without dogs also disperse these animals making counting extremely difficult, and separating counted from uncounted kangaroos an absolute nightmare.

After eight weeks of surveys the average number Eastern Grey Kangaroos is 322 animals composed of an average of 68 (21%) males, 146 (45%) females, 33 (10%) joeys, 42 (13%) joey-in-pouch, 34 (10%) unclassified and 29 (9%) were previously tagged (marked; Table 1).  Table 1 also shows the comparative weekly gender composition, distribution, and the number of marked animals on both golf courses.  The sex ratio of females to males is approximately 2:1 with approximately 42 (range: 21-62) females displaying extended pouches.   It is interesting to note that the sex ratio for the gated clan is 3 males: 2 females.

The population trend line for our weekly counts in Figure 1 shows that the golf course kangaroo population is gradually increasing and will most likely continue to do so for the short term or when the kanga carrying capacity for the golf course is reached.  I don’t know when that may be or, if it will occur especially if there is an interchange with populations from the islands of Coomera, Stradbroke, Kangaroo, and Woogoompah Island to the north and our gated clan.  Once the data undergoes some thorough but rigorous analyses, we will be able to come up with some answers or at the very least more questions.  Currently we just cover the January to April period but surveys should be conducted within each month of the year.

The total kanga population in Table 1 and Figure 1 does not include animals from the gated area east of the 13^th on the Pines.  This area was surveyed on three occasions and each occasion we found 55 to 60 resident animals.  However, if we include 50 kangas from the gated clan, it would mean that the population approaches or is well over the 400 mark.  The number of Eastern Grey Kangaroos in 2013 was between 250 to 300 animals suggesting our pouched scoundrels are becoming the very upwardly mobile in 2014.  At the time of writing, my best conservative estimate for the kangaroo population on the golf courses is 375 to 415 animals.

It is safe to say that the majority (94%) of Eastern Greys hang out in the Pines while, perhaps a more sun tolerant group prefer the Palms.  The numbers of roos on the Palms appear consistent averaging around 21 (6.5%; range: 15-45) animals.  Their locations on the Palms are quite predictable. Often we come across mobs composed predominately of males with an occasional female.  Mapping their locations in real time on the golf course would be useful as well as interesting. A photographical catalogue of the entire population much like whale watchers photograph whale flukes would also be useful in identifying rogue animals and help reduce potential negative interactions. Undoubtedly an interesting challenge for someone in the Cove since much of this technology exists and if not, its development may have long reaching implications.

SAFETY FIRST: YOU AND THE ROO

Recently I was informed that one or two people were threatened or attacked by a female kangaroo with a joey somewhere on the Pines.  The details remain a bit vague at the time of writing but the message I would like to impart is this.

Even though these animals appear tame, or docile; THEY ARE WILD ANIMALS.  Always be aware of your surroundings and responsible to yourself and buddy when you are near or a kangaroo is near you.  The best course of action is NOT TO STARE at it, look down and use your peripheral vision to MOVE away: LISTEN for the grunt calls; it is telling you that you are pushing your limits; NEVER NEVER play Superman by thinking that you can protect yourself from a serious attack or encounter.  You will loose this challenge. Injuring a kanga only pisses it off and that can bring serious consequences not only for animal but also for you.  Remember, it has developed moves for attack and defense over thousands if not millions of years; your reflex actions are not of a teenager and not alien warrior.  LEAVE the area immediately but slowly if possible keeping one eye on the aggressor and the other eye open for your get away.  Golf is only a game.  An encounter with a kangaroo is not worth an injury of any sort to you.  MOVE to the next fairway and blow that horn on the buggy. An international distress call code should be developed and implemented that every one on the golf course recognizes.  IMMEDIATELY REPORT THE INCIDENT.  You should have the Security General or the Proshop number in your mobile phone. USE it.  The course attendants should deal with the details as best they can informing their  sources.

 Aggressive and docile behavior by animals is in part learnt, taught, as well as innate and the adaption or retooling if you like to a modified environment based on human values and concepts of what wild lands should be.  Often it is difficult to separate animal aggression from protection or individual space requirements during certain seasons or if they are injured   

However, kangaroos that are intentionally aggressive should be identified (easier said than done) and immediately removed and dealt by the appropriate agency.  This is due diligence on their part as the overseers of province or state wildlife otherwise, it should be considered negligence.  Animals that are not dealt with will continue their bad habits, which are adopted or learnt by their peers..  While animals adapt; we tend to ignore, be lazy, or politicize. One aggressive act by a kangaroo on the golf course is one too many.  You enjoy sharing the game with wildlife and like you, having the roos this close to observe and count them is indeed a privilege.

And so, I continue the surveys for now! Anyone interested in participating on these surveys please give me a call.  Just remember these are surveys are a commitment.  Stay tuned….

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Stephen Macdonald and Wendy Nelson are gratefully acknowledged for the assistance and putting up with me my quirks .