Abstract
This poster presents preliminary findings from a proof of concept trial for satellite tracking of Baudin's cockatoos. The study follows the work by Christine Groom, which is successfully demonstrating that Carnaby's cockatoos can be tracked using satellite transmitters, and a trial which involved attaching transmitter devices to captive black cockatoos of all three species (Le Souef et al. 2013).
Two rehabilitated adult female Baudin's cockatoos were anaesthetised and fitted with tail-mounted satellite trackers and released in Kelmscott in September 2012. Prior to release, both birds were health checked and flight tested to demonstrate fitness for release. The movements of the cockatoos were monitored according to Argos satellite transmissions, as well as ground truthing using flock sightings and reception of VHF signals from the satellite units using a radio telemetry antenna.
According to their transmissions, the birds initially stayed in the Kelmscott area in close proximity to one another and other groups of Baudin's cockatoos in the area. However, after several days, one of the cockatoos flew south and joined a flock of Baudin's cockatoos migrating further south. Interestingly, during this migration, this bird returned to the Serpentine area from which she was originally found injured. This bird currently remains in the Beela area, 140km southeast of Perth, with other Baudin's cockatoos. The second cockatoo remained in the release area for several weeks before also moving south to Cardup, 33km southeast of Perth, where her transmitter was found two months later, still attached to the tail feathers which had possibly moulted out.