Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Summary The IBA supports a significant wintering population of the endangered Swift Parrot, most of the largest known population of the vulnerable Superb Parrot, and populations of the vulnerable Painted Honeyeater and near threatened Diamond Firetail.

Ornithological information A handful of records of the endangered Regent Honeyeater include two at Jindalee State Forest in May 1998, three at Gunning in November 1998, two at Jindalee State Forest in September 1999 and two at Tumbarumba Cemetery in July 2000 (New South Wales Bird Reports). Other notable species recorded in the IBA include the endangered Australasian Bittern, the near threatened Bush Stone-curlew, the biome-restricted Pink Robin, the Australian Little Bittern and the regionally threatened Turquoise Parrot and Barking Owl. The near threatened Flame Robin and biome-restricted Black Honeyeater are rare visitors to the IBA (Atlas of Australian Birds database).

Site description This exceptionally large IBA is defined by the distribution of the south-west slopes population of Superb Parrots and key areas for wintering Swift Parrots. The boundary has been drawn around the core distribution of Superb Parrots and approximates to a 80 km-wide length of the inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range from Wagga Wagga in the south to Orange in the north, extending south-east through Boorowa and Yass to Queanbeyan, with an extension south to include the important Swift Parrot sites of Livingstone NP, Tarcutta, Gundagai, Tumut and Adelong. The majority of the IBA is highly modified wheat and sheep country with few natural vegetation remnants. Within this huge area, all agricultural land with scattered large trees is considered as potential habitat for Superb Parrots. Swift Parrots occur in woodland dominated by Mugga Ironbark and/or Grey Box and sometimes White Box, Yellow Box, Yellow Gum, River Red Gum and Blakely's Red Gum, especially the biggest trees (greater than 60 cm in diameter at breast height) remaining in largely cleared areas. The few remnant blocks of forest are often on ranges and outcrops where the soils are unsuitable for the key tree species required by either parrot species, and many have had box and ironbark selectively removed. Known important remnants for Swift Parrots include Combaning State Forest (741 ha), Ingalba Nature Reserve (3200 ha), Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve (86 ha), Weddin Mountains National Park (8360 ha) and State Forest, Jindalee State Forest (1080 ha), Tarcutta (432 ha; a Bush Heritage reserve), Mates’ Gully and the largely unprotected roadside, Travelling Stock and Camping Reserves. Superb Parrots require large trees with suitable nest hollows, especially Blakely's Red Gum, but also River Red Gum, Apple Box, Grey Box, White Box and Red Box, but these must be within 10 km (and ideally within 3 km) of box-gum woodlands for foraging, and connected by treed flight corridors. Trees do not develop suitable nesting hollows until they exceed 120 years of age, and trees containing larger hollows used by Superb Parrots are likely to be more than 220 years of age. The annual mean temperature of the region ranges from 10-16 Celsius and annual mean precipitation ranges from 500-1150 mm.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Aranda Bushland	Nature Reserve	115	protected area contained by site	115
Barton	Nature Reserve	519	protected area contained by site	529
Big Bush	Nature Reserve	646	protected area contained by site	640
Black Mountain	Nature Reserve	461	protected area contained by site	461
Boginderra Hills	Nature Reserve	550	protected area contained by site	554
Borenore	Karst Conservation Reserve	136	protected area contained by site	136
Bruce Ridge	Nature Reserve	94	protected area contained by site	94
Conimbla	National Park	7,988	protected area contained by site	7,590
Cooleman Ridge	Nature Reserve	193	protected area contained by site	193
Crace Grassland	Nature Reserve	165	protected area contained by site	165
Dananbilla	Nature Reserve	2,448	protected area contained by site	2,242
Dunlop Grassland	Nature Reserve	105	protected area contained by site	105
Flagstaff Memorial	Nature Reserve	17	protected area contained by site	18
Goorooyarroo	Nature Reserve	986	protected area contained by site	266
Gossan Hill	Nature Reserve	47	protected area contained by site	47
Gungaderra Grassland	Nature Reserve	274	protected area contained by site	274
Gungewalla	Nature Reserve	141	protected area contained by site	141
Hattons Corner	Nature Reserve	3	protected area contained by site	4
Illunie	Nature Reserve	734	protected area contained by site	734
Ingalba	Nature Reserve	4,197	protected area contained by site	4,012
Jerrabomberra Wetlands	Nature Reserve	214	protected area contained by site	214
Koorawatha	Nature Reserve	1,117	protected area contained by site	961
Livingstone	National Park	1,923	protected area contained by site	1,919
Livingstone State	Conservation Area	485	protected area contained by site	485
Lower Molonglo River Corridor	Nature Reserve	657	protected area overlaps with site	373
Mount Canobolas	State Conservation Area	1,607	protected area contained by site	1,607
Mount Pleasant	Nature Reserve	57	protected area contained by site	57
Mt Ainslie	Nature Reserve	640	protected area contained by site	640
Mt Majura	Nature Reserve	482	protected area contained by site	482
Mt Painter	Nature Reserve	91	protected area contained by site	91
Mulanggari Grassland	Nature Reserve	124	protected area contained by site	124
Mulligans Flat	Nature Reserve	792	protected area contained by site	792
Mundoonen	Nature Reserve	1,367	protected area contained by site	1,359
Nangar	National Park	9,406	protected area contained by site	9,196
O'Connor Ridge	Nature Reserve	55	protected area contained by site	55
Oakey Hill	Nature Reserve	65	protected area contained by site	65
Percy Hill	Nature Reserve	79	protected area contained by site	79
Pucawan	Nature Reserve	287	protected area contained by site	274
Red Hill	Nature Reserve	253	protected area overlaps with site	226
Tarcutta Hills	Other Conservation Area	434	protected area contained by site	434
The Pinnacle	Nature Reserve	135	protected area contained by site	135
Weddin Mountains	National Park	8,740	protected area contained by site	8,361
Woodstock	Nature Reserve	343	protected area overlaps with site	25

Habitats

Land ownership Mostly private leasehold and freeholds; also some Commonwealth (Australian National Botanic Gardens) and state government, NSW NPWS, State Forests, Rural Lands Protection Board and Travelling Stock and Camping Reserves.

Land use

Management considerations Develop and implement a Habitat Retention and Enhancement policy to protect woodland, especially within 10 km of Superb Parrot colonies and known Swift Parrot feeding trees. Promote the regeneration of large hollow-bearing eucalypts. Revegetate and fence flight corridors and foraging habitat.

Protection status Numerous - see separate section.

References Christie, P. (2004) Extension of the known breeding range of the Superb Parrot. Corella 28: 75-78.

Davey, C. (1997) Observations on the Superb Parrot within the Canberra district. Canberra Bird Notes 22: 1-14.

Davey, C. and Purchase, D. (2004) A survey of the Superb Parrot Polytelis swainsonii and potential nesting tree hollows along roads of the South-western Slopes, New South Wales. Corella 28: 1-3.

DSE (2007) National Recovery Plan for the Superb Parrot Polytelis swainsonii. Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment: Melbourne.

Kennedy, S. J. and Overs, A. E. (2001) Foraging ecology and habitat use of the Swift Parrot on the south-western slopes of New South Wales. Corella 25: 68-74.

Manning, A. D., Lindenmayer, D. B. and Barry, S. C. (2004) The conservation implications of bird reproduction in the agricultural "matrix": a case study of the vulnerable superb parrot in south-eastern Australia. Biological Conservation 120: 367-378.

Manning, A. D., Lindenmayer, D. B., Barry, S. C. and Nix, H. A. (2006) Multi-scale site and landscape effects on the vulnerable superb parrot of south-eastern Australia during the breeding season. Landscape Ecology 21: 1119-1133.

NSW NPWS (2008) Atlas of NSW Wildlife. http://wildlifeatlas.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/wildlifeatlas/watlasSpecies.jsp accessed 11 June 2008.

NSW NPWS (in press). Superb Parrot Polytelis swainsonii Recovery Plan. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service: Hurstville.

Webster, R. (1988) The Superb Parrot - A survey of the breeding distribution and habitat requirements. Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service Report Series No. 12. Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service: Canberra.

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: South-west Slopes of NSW. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 22/05/2013

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