Reintroduction is an important conservation intervention, but success rates remain low despite advances in science and practice. The bush stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius) was formerly widespread across the Australian continent and, while still common in northern Australia, is imperiled in the south. They are endangered in NSW, critically endangered in Victoria, and had been extinct in the ACT since the 1970s until their reintroduction at Mulligans Flat. My PhD project aimed to 1) expand the reintroduction effort to sites in Victoria, and 2) improve the recipe of translocation tactics. In this seminar I will present my PhD findings, answering questions such as: do behavioural traits predict survival? Do successive release cohorts learn from one another? Can wild training periods improve release outcomes? How can we leverage movement 'beyond the fence'? I also trained my dog, Koda, to recover the GPS tracking equipment, and evaluated her performance compared to human searchers. Collectively, these findings contribute a recipe for future bush stone-curlew translocations, and more importantly generate key findings for the broader endeavour of reintroduction biology.

 

Shoshana is a PhD candidate at the Coexistence Conservation Lab at the Fenner School. She has been at Fenner for nearly a decade (not doing a PhD that whole time, contrary to popular belief), as a student, research assistant, and demonstrator. Sho's primary love in life is birds and their conservation.