According to Ben Wyatt's letter the 'Great Cocky Count' is slated for April 9th this year - looks like they won't need any calculators (as long as their fingers haven't all been amputated).
A mate of mine counts the Carnaby's out near Toodyay every year - the numbers have been increasing over the past decade. I don't know much about it, but he told me that the cockys mate for life (no such thing as a divorce court in their community I presume) and that they only will mate if their nesting site remains intact. That means you can't cut down any free standing eucalypts (alive/dead) before assessing whether or not the cockys are using it as a nesting site. Once you cut down a tree that is used as a nesting site, they stop mating/raising hatchlings - they live a long time.
Recently I spoke with a woman working on a research project at Perth Zoo - they're attempting to breed the endangered Western Ground Parrots from around Albany. According to her, the funding has run out and there are less than 50 of the species still alive in the bush.
I enjoy roasting up a chook as much as the next fella, but I think it's about time that we start paying attention to things like this - time for Vic Park to quit acting like Stirling Council too.
