Mistletoe Roadshow -
Mid Macquarie Landcare hosted the Birdlife Australia Mistletoe Roadshow workshops in Narromine and Wellington in collaboration with Central West LLS and DCCEEW.
Birdlife Australia have just developed a new Mistletoe Propagation Manual for Eastern Australia.
In an effort to help promote the new manual, Mid Macquarie Landcare participated in a Mistletoe Roadshow series of events.
We partnered with a range of organisations to deliver the roadshow including:
- Watershed Landcare,
- Central Tablelands Landcare,
- Weddin Landcare,
- Three Rivers Landcare,
- Central West and Central Tablelands Local Land Services,
- Biodiversity Conservation Trust and
- Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.
Over 70 people across the 2 regions attended the workshops to learn about mistletoes and take their fabulous mistletoe propagation skills out into the world.
Fun Facts and Key Learnings:
Mistletoes (Indigenous name: Wiburugil) are a keystone species that increase biodiversity across landscapes.
Birds feed on Mistletoe flowers, they use them as nesting sites, get micronutrients from the dense leaves, feed on the leaf lerps AND the dead material dropped by Mistletoe plants that accumulates on the ground increases insect numbers for birds and other species to feed on.
The stomata on Mistletoe leaves stay open transpiring constantly, so they are like Mother Nature's coolroom!
In our region we get:
- Box Mistletoe (found on 110 host box eucalypt species),
- Needleleaf Mistletoe (found on Casuarina’s)
- Grey Mistletoe (on Grey Box, and Acacias in Weeping Myall woodlands) and
- Kurrajong Mistletoe (which is actually insect pollinated - has teeny tiny flowers!).
Regent Honeyeaters and Painted Honeyeaters LOVE mistletoe. To help save these species and extend their range again, it’s important to have corridors of mistletoe across the region.
If you’re interested in trialling mistletoe propagation or want advice about creating better habitat for woodland birds on your property, BirdLife Australia and Mid Macquarie Landcare are here to help. Together, we can help restore the rich woodland resources that species like the Regent Honeyeater rely on.
Check out the workshop presentation notes here.
Below are some other important links and resources:
Birds on Farms - BirdLife Australia
Threatened ecological communities on farms | NSW Government
Homepage | BCT
About • Box-Gum Grassy Woodlands
Sustainable Farms: Healthy farmers, Healthy farms, Healthy profits