Corella culls appear to be successful
The combined efforts by Bunbury City Council and Harvey Shire Council to control the introduced corella population seems to have had an effect, with the city’s mayor confirming there had been fewer complaints about the pest species.
Just over 1000 corellas have been culled over the past 10 years as part of previous collaborative approaches with other local governments, with the Harvey shire coming on board last year.
City of Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan said planning had begun for the upcoming season, with a contractor appointed to undertake control work from January.
“Control work will begin when birds return to the control sites after breeding and a regular attendance pattern at control sites occurs,” Mr Brennan said.
He said while it was difficult to correctly estimate the corella populations due to the large area covered, staff had seen fewer reports from community members.
“We have, however, been monitoring community complaints instead and there has been a big drop in complaints during 2019 compared to 2017 and 2018,” he said.
“We are not sure if this is due to our control efforts in 2018/19 or due to other factors such as changes in bird movement patterns.”
The 2018-2019 program took place from January to June 2019, when the birds left the area for breeding over the winter months.
“Generally speaking, the birds congregate into large flocks over warmer months and disberse for breeding over cooler months,” he said.
“We have undertaken control in locations that have an established bird attendance pattern and are secure so public access can be restricted for safety purposes.”
The Shire of Harvey and the City of Bunbury worked collaboratively during 2018/2019 and Mr Brennan said this would likely continue in 2019/20.
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