黑凤头鹦鹉幼雏在烧毁的栖息地中孵化

黑凤头鹦鹉幼雏在烧毁的栖息地中孵化

A DISTINCT POPULATION of glossy black cockatoo chicks have begun hatching on Kangaroo Island, despite their habitat being devastated by the 2019/2020 bushfires.

尽管它们的栖息地在2019/2020年的森林大火中遭到了破坏，但在袋鼠岛上已经开始孵化出大量光滑的黑色小凤头鹦鹉。

It’s estimated that only 370 of the cockatoos lived on Kangaroo Island prior to the fires, and 75 per cent of that population lived within the 210,000 hectare area that was burnt.

据估计，火灾发生前，只有370只鹦鹉生活在袋鼠岛上，75%的鹦鹉生活在被烧毁的21万公顷区域内。

Natural Resources Kangaroo Island, who have been managing conservation efforts on the island, discovered 23 chicks during nest inspections – several in areas badly affected by the fires.

一直在岛上进行保护工作的自然资源袋鼠岛在巢检查期间发现了23只黑凤头鹦鹉幼雏，其中几只在大火严重影响的地区。

“It’s amazing to see that glossies have continued to nest in places like Middle River and DeMole River where there’s some food trees that survived the flames,” says Karleah Berris from Natural Resources Kangaroo Island.

来自袋鼠岛自然资源的Karleah Berris说:“在中部河和DeMole河这样的地方，有一些树木在大火中幸存下来，看到它们继续筑巢真是令人惊讶。”

“Every new glossy black-cockatoo on Kangaroo Island is incredibly important. The only way we’re going to rebuild this population is to ensure these chicks keep hatching and survive to fledging.

“袋鼠岛上每一只新的光滑的黑凤头鹦鹉都非常重要。我们要重建这个种群的唯一方法，就是确保这些幼雏继续孵化并存活下来。”

“The survival rate for nestlings is up around 70 per cent, so we don’t lose many after they hatch. The biggest threat is possums predating on eggs and nestlings. In the past we’ve had large nestlings up to five weeks old being taken by possums.”

“雏鸟的成活率提高了70%左右，所以孵化后不会损失很多。最大的威胁是预防负鼠捕食蛋和幼雏。曾经有5周大的幼雏被负鼠带走。”

To prevent predation by possums, corrugated iron collars have been fixed around trees with nests. The next step in the recovery will be replacing the nest boxes lost in the fires.

为了防止负鼠的捕食，在有巢穴的树周围固定了波纹铁圈。恢复工作的下一步将是更换在火灾中丢失的巢箱。

“Many of the cockatoo pairs on Kangaroo Island rely entirely on these artificial nests to breed and nest, so it’s vital to install replacement boxes in areas where there’s feeding habitat,” says WWF-Australia’s Darren Grover, who will be providing funding.

将提供救助资金的世界自然基金会(WWF)澳大利亚分会的达伦·格罗弗(Darren Grover)表示：“袋鼠岛上的许多凤头鹦鹉完全依靠这些人工巢繁殖和筑巢，因此在有觅食栖息地的地区安装替换箱至关重要。”。

“It’s fantastic to see these cockatoo chicks emerging from the ashes of the bushfires, but they now face new challenges going forward and there’s lots of work for us to do.”

“看到这些凤头鹦鹉幼雏从森林大火的灰烬中重生真是太棒了，但它们现在面临着新的挑战，我们还有很多工作要做。”