Fauna

The Precinct is home to numerous birds, reptiles and insects.

Rainbow Bee-eater by Georgina Wilson

Overview

Fauna of Jirdarup Bushland Precinct

The Precinct is home to numerous birds, reptiles and insects.

Surveys since 1990 have reported:

  • 68 species of birds, including some that simply fly over
  • 1 amphibian, the Western Banjo Frog
  • 16 reptiles
  • 3 introduced mammals, the common house mouse, feral cats and more recently rabbits.
Lists of birds and reptiles are included in our book. A specific publication about the birds is being prepared.

Sightings

Recorded Sightings

Margaret Turpin’s 1990 paper is the first identified study of the fauna in the Kensington Bushland. She identified 12 species of reptiles and 17 birds species. Since that time, a range of local observations and formal studies have been recorded.

The first recorded sighting of the Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo was in 2007.

Research led by Dr Juliana Pille Arnold for BioLogic and the Town of Victoria Park in 2019-2020 identified 38 native bee species in the Precinct.

In 2005 and again in 2008, there were reports of quenda scratchings, including one by the late Dr Stephen Davies, ornithologist and conservationist.

Bats were first recorded in 2023, in all likelihood passing through rather than roosting or foraging.

Foxes had not been seen for some years until they re-emerged during November 2023.

Looking for more research links …

Bobtail by Helen Brown

The West Australian 21 July 1954

History

A Letter from 1925

Bandicoots as Pets. Mrs. Gladys MacKay writes from Como: — ‘The first evening we arrived here we noticed what I thought was a large rat. .. it was shaped differently and moved with a sort of hopping movement …’  Mrs. MacKay need have no fears. The bandicoot is a friendly fellow without vice and makes an amusing pet …. I should say it is the western striped bandicoot …

In other historic news, the WA Record reported kangaroos and emus “sporting” themselves in the vicinity of the Victoria Park railway station in 1906. A rare legless lizard was found in 1954.