The Grandmother Tree

Many people living around Perth have no idea of the size and antiquity of our indigenous trees.  I suspect some have never visited our extraordinary bushland areas!

I'd like to share with you some photos of "The Grandmother Tree", which lives in a Bush Forever Site next to Ellenbrook.  The base of the tree measures about 5m in circumference.  The tree species is Stout Paperbark (Melaleuca preissiana). 

Photos do not do it justice!  I haven't been able to find tables matching age of this species to its girth, so can only guess at how long it has been growing.  Since Federation (January 1901) - a mere 110 years?  Absolutely.  Since European settlement of Western Australia (in 1829), 180 years ago?  Highly likely.  I suspect this tree might be closer to 300 years old, or even more.  The soft papery bark bears scars from some bushfires over its lifetime, and has, paradoxically, protected the tree from being burnt.  These large trees provide nectar for honeyeaters and Honey Possums, as well as shelter and a place to raise their young.

You would think that such an enormous tree would stand out like a sore thumb in the landscape.  But look at this photo, taken from a hilltop.  The Grandmother Tree is in the middle distance, about 250m away, on the right.  Can you see it in this photo?

(Not the tall jarrah!)  How about in this one, a section of the above photo enlarged?  

The Grandmother Tree is in a low part of the landscape, and is the dark patch in the middle, to the left of the tall Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) which is on a hill.  It's not the only large tree in the area.  Here it is circled below in yellow.

This tree is one of our local treasures.  It, and others like it, is an important part of local biodiversity, and needs to be conserved and protected from any proposed development or changes to land planning.

Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo : Endangered Species

Every day this week, I've enjoyed my early morning cuppa to the sounds of Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo.  One morning I saw a flock of about 200 big black birds floating across the sky, with the young fledglings calling to their parents - a magnificent sight.  This morning I saw groups of twos and threes for about an hour.  Two hundred might sound like a large flock ...but records of forty years ago say there were flocks of thousands, or tens of thousands, of birds. I would just love to see that.

Moulton Wetland in Ellenbrook is apparently one of their stopovers for snacks and a snooze.  The cockatoos sit up high in the Banksias and marri (Corymbia calophylla), feasting on the flowers and seeds.  They are so quiet that you wouldn't know they were there.  Sometimes a whole flock can disappear into the tree tops, reappearing after a couple of hours of feeding and resting.  Considering that these birds fly a long distance from coastal areas to the Wheatbelt and back every year, they really need these places to rest and refuel on the way.   

This photo shows what's left of the "honkey nuts" (gumnuts from Corymbia trees) after the cockatoos have removed the seeds!

Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo is an Endangered Species.   The main threat to the birds is from habitat loss, i.e. clearing of native vegetation.  We really need to look after the bushland that remains, because without it, we lose not only the plants but the animals that depend on them.

I would like to see more plantings of banksias (especially Banksia attenuata, Banksia menziesii, Banksia ilicifolia, Banksia littoralis and Banksia grandis), marri (Corymbia calophylla) and jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) for these birds.  Other animals would benefit too.  So many hectares of healthy cockatoo food trees have been knocked down to make way for our houses and roads.  Surely it would be simple to replant even a few trees in parks and along streets?  How about a few trees in a corner of a schoolyard for environmental studies?  Or even an ornamental specimen in the front garden?

For more information about Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo, try these links:

an easy-to-read brochure about the Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo Recovery Project - here

a list of plants that the birds use for food - here

some scientific information including habitat, life cycle, threats, with maps - here