Return of a Gouldian Age?
Gouldian Finches Chloebia
gouldiae have been sighted, for the first time, outside the reserve in North Queensland where a reintroduction project began five
years ago. Four adults and up to 16 juveniles were observed in perfect breeding habitat, a few kilometres north of the Mareeba
Tropical Savanna and Wetland Reserve. From millions of birds in the 1950s, the finch has declined steadily across northern
Australia. Cattle-grazing deprives the birds of their near-exclusive food source, by preventing grasses from seeding, and changes in
fire regimes have created too uniform a landscape for a species that requires a mosaic of habitat.
We have long suspected
the birds were prospecting other areas in the vicinity. This sighting of two breeding pairs and their offspring proves we have
established a breeding population in the Mareeba district, after an absence of over 40 years said Julie Deleyev, warden of
Mareeba Wetland Foundation.
Gouldian Finches died out in
Mareeba and the surrounding area of North-east Queensland in the 1960s. The total wild adult population is fewer than 2,500
individuals. The species is common in captivity, though many are bred as colour mutants, and have lost genetic variability and
resistance to disease.
In March 2002, 20 juveniles were released at Mareeba, following a collaboration between the Mareeba
Wetland Foundation, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, James Cook University and local amateur aviculturalists, to source a
genetically variable population of local provenance. The Foundation also introduced a sustainable fire regime, similar to that
traditionally used by the indigenous Muluridji people.
Created: 13th Jul 2004
