Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00006:reg:3:p15
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00006
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 15/58)
Character Range: 43097–46122

Bramwell 2008;). They occasionally occur in temperate rainforest that contains Acmena smithii (syn. Acmena smithii) (Emison et al. 1987; Clarke & Bramwell 1998; Baker 2000). In Croajingolong NP, Eastern Bristlebirds have also been recorded in rainforest along creeks and lowland forest dominated by Red Bloodwood (Corymbia gummifera) (DSE 1999; DSE 2018).

 Sedge dominated drainage line, Croajingolong ©
 Copyright, BirdLife Australia

 Wet depression in regenerating heathy woodland,
 Croajingolong © Copyright, BirdLife Australia

 Baker (2009) found that while heathland to woodland ecotones may provide suitable habitat for some individual Eastern Bristlebirds, the species is neither dependant on, nor confined to, heathland to woodland ecotones.

 The central and southern populations may reach maximum densities in habitat that has not been burnt for at least 15 years (Baker 1997). In Booderee NP, the recolonisation of burned habitat within two years of fire was attributed to the patchiness of the 2003 fire (leaving unburnt refuges) and the intensive fox control program (Lindenmayer et al. 2009; Lindenmayer et al. 2010). Lindenmayer et al.
 (2010) concluded that the decline of Eastern Bristlebirds after fire is largely due to the exposure to exotic predators following the loss of dense protective cover during a fire.

           Eastern Bristlebird habitat at Jervis Bay National Park © Copyright, Chris Grounds

           Eastern Bristlebird habitat at Jervis Bay National Park © Copyright, Chris Grounds

2.7.2            Diet and foraging ecology

 The Eastern Bristlebird feeds mainly on invertebrates (ants, beetles, flies, cockroaches, true bugs (hemipterans), cicadas, grasshoppers, crickets, mantids and caterpillars, but also earthworms and spiders), seeds and small fruits of grasses and other plants including Acacia, Carex, Exocarpos and, possibly, Lycium ferocissimum (African Box-thorn), but may also take fungi and occasionally nectar from Banksia ericifolia, food scraps and tadpoles (Gould 1865; Lea & Gray 1935; Barker & Vestjens 1990; Holmes 1998; Chapman 1999; Gibson 1999; Gibson & Baker 2004).

 Eastern Bristlebirds forage mostly on the ground, where they toss aside leaf litter with their bill, peck food items from the surface and probe into soil, but they do not use their feet to scratch the ground. They occasionally glean food items from foliage or branches, or capture insects in flight (Blakers et al. 1984; Hartley & Kikkawa 1994; Baker 1998; Holmes 1998; Chapman 1999; Gibson & Baker 2004).

2.7.3            Breeding ecology

 Eastern Bristlebirds breed from August to February (Campbell 1900; Chaffer 1954; Morris et al. 1981; Higgins & Peter 2002). Females build a small, globular nest that has a side entrance and is made from grass, bark, sedges or reeds, and sometimes leaves (McNamara 1946; Chaffer 1954; Holmes 1989, Higgins & Peter 2002; Booth 2009). The nest is generally constructed at 10 to 45 cm above the ground in low dense vegetation, in grass tussocks,