Things never go how you expect. That is a major lesson to be learnt when participating in any sort of conservation or animal studies. I spent a couple of days assisting researchers in the field conducting a study on the Superb parrot, with particular interest in the nesting hollow requirements and measurements. This involved assisting researchers climbing trees to measure each and every hollow throughout the tree. As you can imagine, this wasn’t a very easy task, with the difficulty furthered due to this being the first day in the field, so organisation wasn’t at it’s best. We spent most of the morning organizing the car to be washed down, and ensuring there was no remnant dirt or seeds on the base, as the area we were entering was in the process of eliminating weeds.

The second day in the field was more organised, and  we managed to get straight into the study site and measure some hollows. There was some difficulty within each tree, with dead branches making it impossible to measure some hollows due to their safety, or lack thereof, in which case we had to take an estimate instead. In terms of accuracy, estimates are not ideal, but we needed to note every hollow we came across.

This study intends to aid in the protection of the Superb Parrot, which you can read more about here, as well as assist in the development of recommendations for tree retention in urban areas. Studies like these need manpower and funding, which may be difficult to come across.

Its not as simple as just telling people not to cut down trees and not too build where nesting trees exist, with an ever-increasing population, humans have an increasing need for housing. With the concern of the natural environment very prominent, research in these areas in necessary for working with housing developers and developing methods and requirements for tree retention in an urban environment, and utilizing options such as offset sites.

In this particular case, the study site was an offset site for a new suburb development known as Throsby, and connects onto the Mulligan’s Flat Nature Reserve in the North of Canberra. This area has had introduced predators eliminated, with large fences and dedicated resources to removing pest species. This environment is useful for the continuation of the Superb Parrot, and as a result provided an excellent study site for improving the potential of this species.

Offset sites like the study site at Throsby and an idea in creating the ability for human development, while making an effort to maintain biodiversity and the unique species within Australia. In the end, studies like these aid in the intention of coexisting with our natural environment.

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