Friends of Jirdarup Bushland

May 1

Hello bushcare team! 🥰

Exciting news! The Friends have been talking with the Town about ‘adopting’ an area in Jirdarup where we can lavish our efforts on planting, hand weeding and watering for the coming 12 months. 👏The sites we are looking at are along the Sandpit embankment, but still within the Bush Forever zone. These areas are perfect for planting lots of cockatoo food trees - such as jarrah, marri, and banksia - and have easy access to the car park and other facilities.

With a good soaking rain yesterday, this weekend we will focus on hand weeding along the Etwell St verge, which is right next door to our planned ‘adoption’ site.

Please join us this Sunday anytime between 7.15am - 9am, somewhere between the Kent St roundabout and the bushland entrance.

REMINDER 👉 Don’t forget our special visit to the City of South Perth Nursery, from 10am next Wednesday 5th May. If you haven’t signed up, please RSVP and we’ll send you the details.

Picture: Laura Jung ...

Apr 20

Hello,
if you have been down to the Jirdarup Bushland I am sure you will have seen lots of activity on the ever so popular bird waterers. 🥳🤩

We've now entered the Noongar season Djeran, known as the 'season of adulthood'. 🤓

The season changes when the nights turn cool, bringing a morning dew. Red flowers, like banksias, are in bloom, rain starts to fall and flying ants cruise on the light south westerly winds.

Make sure you take a stroll through the bushland, as the Banksia menziesii, commonly known as firewood banksia, are now flowering. They are a gnarled tree that gets up to 10 m tall.
They are often two-coloured red or pink and yellow, and their colour has earnt them some unusual common names such as port wine banksia and strawberry banksia. Yellow blooms are rarely seen.

Both pictures were taken by Georgina Wilson on 10/04/2021. Thanks, Georgina.

Enjoy Djeran, the autumn in our bushland.
Kind regards,
Klaus - Friends of Jirdarup Bushland ...

Apr 20

Hello everyone,
here's a belated 'Easter Egg' from Jirdarup Bushland. 🙂

The amazing pictures were taken by Mark Molinari on 04/04/2021.
Thank you very much for sharing your wonderful pictures with us, Mark.

Enjoy your next visit to the bushland, our magic little place in suburbia.

Kind regards,
Klaus - Friends of Jirdarup Bushland ...

Apr 20

Geoff Groom kindly sent through his photo of a very special bird! 👌

“In 2019 I photographed this bird in Kensington Bushland. I believe that it is a hybrid between a White-cheeked Honeyeater and a New Holland Honeyeater. I wrote an article, which appeared in Australian Field Ornithology (Volume 36 - 2019).

Currently I am trying to see as many Western Australian birds as I can, in one calendar year. Alan Collins currently holds the record, having seen 419 birds. Currently I have seen or heard 326 different species. Two of these birds were seen for the first time this year in the Jirdarup Bushland - the Western Wattlebird and the White-cheeked Honeyeater.

If you would like to follow my progress, check out my Facebook Page WA Big Birding Year - 2021 .”

You can see more shots of the hybrid and Geoff's paper (with many more pictures of the hybrid) on BirdLife Western Australia's website: https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2170

Fiona ...

Mar 20

These stunning photos were taken in Jirdarup Bushland yesterday morning by Georgina Wilson; aren’t we lucky to have these wonderful birds as part of our lives?! ❤️

Enjoy your local Bushland! 🌿🙌

Want to join us making a difference by watering and weeding in the Bushland? We do Saturday and Sunday - 7am for the earlybirds (so ~7.30 for most folks) to 8.30 on both days. Whether you give 40 minutes or more of your time, it all adds up! Beginners are very welcome too.

We suggest wearing long trousers, a hat, sunscreen, closed shoes, and gloves. We’ve got buckets and weeding tools. Any questions please contact us, Fiona (0404 069997) and Vicki (0416 049 550) or email us on admin@friendsofjirdarupbushland.org.au - or just rock up to the Christmas Tree crossroads in Kensington Bushland. Thanks!

Post by Fiona
Photos by Georgina Wilson - thanks for sharing these with us!

(if you want to share photos with us then email them to us admin@friendsofjirdarupbushland.org.au
Thanks! ...

Mar 9

Do you remember our post just over a week ago where we asked for help as we were “wondering what our cockatoos are doing”? (Up to 20 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos had been seen on the ground or on rocks near the Etwell Street entrance to the Kent St Sandpit, appearing to be eating small stones, sand, and chewing the surface of large rocks.)

Presumably it’s important as the birds are at risk when they are at ground level (the Sandpit is currently fenced off and locked so they are safe from off-lead dogs). We wondered if the rocks were rich in some minerals that the birds need in their diet? 🤔

Steven Spragg makes the “general observations of the same behaviour in most species of Cockatoo in Australia. Reading up on it they require additional minerals not usually present in seeds such as Iodine, Calcium and other salts like magnesium, Iron etc so grit is an important source for such minerals.”

NB Some birds, like poultry, needed shell grit because they cannot chew. Poultry are in the large category of Passerines, which includes more than half of all bird species; these birds have three toes pointing forward and one back to facilitate perching. Passerines need grit to aid their digestion processes and Psittacines (parrots) generally do not.

Here’s another great selection of interesting Black-cockatoo photos taken in Jirdarup very recently. These highlight the variety of important food source plants for Black-cockatoos that occur within Jirdarup, including:

Prickleybark Eucalyptus todtiana (https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/5790)
Dwarf sheoak Allocasuarina humilis ((https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/1732)
Balga Xanthorrhoea preissii (https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/1256)

There are many nut-laden Prickleybarks at the moment, particularly in the George Street Reserve plantings.

Photos by Georgina Wilson - thanks so much for sharing these photos and observations Georgina!
Post by Stephen and Fiona ...

Mar 3

Can you help us? We’re wondering what our cockatoos are doing. 🤔

Georgina Wilson took these photos last week. This was the second time that she has seen up to 20 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos on the ground or on rocks near the Etwell Street entrance to the Sandpit, appearing to be eating small stones or sand. 😯

Some birds, like poultry, need shell grit because they cannot chew. Poultry are in the large category of Passerines, which includes more than half of all bird species; these birds have three toes pointing forward and one back to facilitate perching. @sam7clarke at @kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre advises that Passerines need grit and Psittacines (parrots) generally do not.

Sometimes animals may also exploit these resources if they are rich in some minerals so, perhaps, this is what is going on here?

Presumably it’s important as the birds are at risk when they are at ground level (the Sandpit is currently fenced off and locked so they are safe from off-lead dogs).

Does anyone know about this behaviour we’re witnessing? We’d love to hear from you. 🙌💚

Photos by Georgina Wilson (photos are cropped as the cockatoos were in the distance).
Post by Fiona ...

Mar 2