After completing my 3-yr-long masters on Palm Cockatoos and getting it accepted by The Australian National University, I took 4 months to top up my funds and climb some trees. I was an installation manager for Mobile Illumination, Inc., wrapping big trees with Christmas lights for, basically, the rich and famous of LA. After my funds were topped back up again, I was free to go back to Australia and explore the wildlife there again, this time with a big-lens camera.
Christina climbing a tree to wrap with Christmas lights
The context of the trip was to join up with my old supervisor to do a reccy (reconnaissance mission) for the next round of Palm Cockatoo research. This time, as opposed to my masters time, I’m always photographing and videoing birds, mainly Palm Cockatoos, and, when the weather is good, heaps of other birds, too. It’s so fun. I can get some pretty ripper shots and footage with this pro-camera gear I’m getting around with. I’ve included some of my best recent photos to share with you.
In terms of the project reccy, I’ve been on a serious roll: I’m up to 16 hollows that I’ve found, as in 16 trees that have cavities in them that I’ve seen Palm Cockatoos (PCs) sitting on (they may end up being nests or just display hollows).
Palm Cockatoo pair
That’s about how many hollows I found in 6months of fieldwork 2 years back, and this round has only been 1month. I’ve seen only one PC drum so far. I really wish it was more than one b/c that’s the main footage I’m after (for the project and for my video journal I want to make about PCs). I have seen them nest-building on two hollows, though. Yippee : ). So those may turn into nests (they nest-build and maintain multiple nests though, clearly just to make it more difficult on us researchers).
I’ve also gotten myself into this habit of finding Green Pythons in the rainforest and sharing it with camping tourists- great way to make instant friends!
Green Python
I gave a PC talk to 10 trash-picker-upper volunteers the other night before a nighttime spotlighting session in the rainforest. They suspected they wouldn’t have much luck finding anything without some expert help 
. Sure enough, the green python I found for them was way off the side of the road in the scrub and everyone else had missed it. Needless to say, they were much appreciative of my time and help.
Scrub Python
I’ve made lots of local friends and good connections, too. Like this one old fellow who has a shack and 2-acre property by one of my fieldsites. He has welcomed me to camp there on his property, which is higher than all the surrounding land and overlooks the ocean. There’s even several 70-year-old war bunkers there, too, from WWII, when the Americans had a base up here in Northeast far north Queensland.
I’m also soon heading out with this old croc-hunter bloke (he used to sell croc skins back in the 60s when it was legal) to this remote creek where he has seen heaps of PCs, including drumming behaviour. It’ll be great to hear all his bush stories of this wild place.
Permission from local aboriginal land-owners for the project is going pretty well. They’ve all been positively responsive to letting me trek around and do this reccy, plus research down the track. Some are particularly keen b/c having me there researching PCs will help them have a stronger case for acquiring gov’t funds (perhaps for rangers) for conservation on their Indigenous Protected Areas (IPA). It is hard to get onto (find) these folks sometimes though.
More good news: my old supervisor, Rob Heinsohn, is keen to have me back next year, and he’s working on getting funds to pay me wages, too. Check that out! Haha. It’s a good gig, coming out here and getting to play out in the bush. It only feels like work every now and again, like when PCs are not being cooperative and never letting you get close to them.
Lastly, after this stint, I go to Darwin (Northern Territory, Australia) to present my PC research at a big conservation conference. I’ll likely fly back to LA come end-Sept. and hop straight into that Christmas-lighting business again to top up the funds so I can be free to do fun wildlife things again next year!
Cheers,
Christina
© Christina Zdenek
See http://www.ChristinaZdenek.com for more photos and stories
More photos for your enjoyment:
Sulphur-crested Cockatoos
Eclectus parrot pair
Spectacled Monarch
Brush-tailed Turkey
On the job
Parrot Bloggers
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