BIRDS OF WILROY NATURE RESERVE

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 9 years ago

Introduction: Information on status of birds of reserves throughout the wheatbelt is being accumulated as part of the biological survey outlined by Kitchener (1976). This paper presents data on Wilroy Nature Reserve (for location and details see Dell, Introduction this report).

Until now little was known of the status of birds in the northern wheatbelt since agricultural clearing. Sedgwick (1953) discussed the status of birds at Caron ca 120 km south of Wilroy at a time when agriculture was expanding rapidly in the region. Although Sedgwick's locality is a considerable distance from Wilroy it is the only substantial paper on birds of the northern wheatbelt and therefore is the only source of comparison.

Data on Wilroy were obtained by G. Harold (7-15 July 1975), Dell (10-11 July 1975, 14-20 May 1976 and 20-26 September 1976) and P.J. Fuller (20-26 September 1976). Status of birds is listed in the ascending order of scarce, uncommon, moderately common and common after taking cognizance of status elsewhere in the wheatbelt. Vegetation locations mentioned are from Muir (this report), which should be consulted for habitat details. Nomenclature follows Storr (1979).