The birdlife on the conservation agreement site of South Coast couple Sarah and Michael Guppy is very important to them.
For years they have been banding and monitoring the bird community on their property and expanding on work started by Sarah’s father in 1975.
Sarah’s father, Stephen Marchant was an avid amateur ornithologist and when he bought the property of Ballara, near Moruya, he began a study on the breeding biology of the resident bird population that lasted almost 10 years.
The couple now live on the 20-hectare property, and starting in 2007, continued the research Stephen started. Between August and February they spend hours each day walking the site recording all the birds and nests and documenting them against co-ordinates on a grid of well-worn paths.
Michael said they were inspired to continue this work because they realised the importance of long-term studies.
“Sarah and I started monitoring the site again in 2007 and continued doing that for eight years. We brought in a team of about 10 people, twice a year, to help us catch and band the birds.”
They have observed 44 species breeding on the site during their study, including the eastern yellow robin (Eopsaltria australis), grey shrikethrush (Colluricincla harmonica), New Holland honey eater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae), and found about 150 nests each season. In 2012 the conservation agreement was placed on the property.
Together with Stephen’s research, the Guppys developed an 18-year dataset.
They observed that on average 50 per cent of the nests fail each season, with the majority (90 per cent), failing due to nest predation. Interestingly, the eastern whipbird (Psophodes olivaceus) and fan-tailed cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis) accounted for 36 per cent of nest predations.
Michael and Sarah have published their findings in multiple scientific papers.
"It’s very reassuring for us to know this special ecosystem will remain protected in-perpetuity under our conservation agreement with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust,” Sarah said.
Read more NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust news.