There’s a lot of time to think while completing my weekly migration between the Blue Mountains & the Mid Lachlan region & most recently I’ve been thinking about bird habitat & in particular connectivity.

I’ve been a Blue Mountains resident since moving to Australia in 2004, adding our little piece of heaven at Woodstock, ten years later as a rest-of-life conservation project. Both the contrast and similarities in environment fascinate me, as does the fact that the route I take in my car is a migrationary route for many species of bird, some of which, including the Noisy Friar Birds & Gang Gang Cockatoos, drop in to our piece of woodland from time to time.

In April this year it was confirmed that Mid Lachlan Landcare had been awarded a grant for a Glossy Black Cockatoo habitat boosting project. I’m co-ordinating that project and when it became clear that there was an opportunity for me to bring both of my beloved ‘homes’ together under this banner, I reached out to the Blue Mountains Planetary health team and went for it.

The Glossy Black Cockatoo can be found throughout the Blue Mountains, sightings of which always draw interest & creates a buzz. This iconic bird has inspired school projects & conservation works in the recent past and it’s also about to become the subject of a monitoring program under the Saving our Species initiative which is exciting & also great timing for us!

Out west, we find the Glossy’s out in the region that we’re conducting planting across – the Conimbla to Nangar National Parks & surrounding farm land. We have booked to talk about our project in the Blue Mountains on Saturday 7th June from 4pm-6pm at the Planetary Health Centre in Katoomba where we’ll focus on explaining the habits & preferences of our local population of Glossies, how & why farmers are playing an important role in boosting connectivity & what large-scale connectivity could look like for this and other species. The goal is for us to work together across this broader landscape to broaden & deepen our knowledge of this iconic species & inspire both big-picture and local on-ground actions. We’ll be inviting Blue Mountains residents to come and get a taste of what the Mid Lachlan Region has to offer for birding enthusiasts as well as inviting them to join us in some habitat planting. How very exciting!

You can read the article written about Blue Mountains Planetary Health conducted with me here and watch a video of our discussions

To book into the Katoomba Glossy Black Cockatoo event on Saturday 7th June click here.

To volunteer for tree planting duties on Saturday 5th July click here.

We’ll also be planting on Saturday 21st June which you can volunteer for here.

Here’s to Growing Connected Landscapes together!

Amanda Foxon-Hill, Mid Lachlan Landcare Coordinator & Blue Mountains resident.