For the global goals elective we had to choose a global goal and work to try and help finish it. Our global goal was life on land, we decided to focus on animal conservation. This is because biodiversity is a big player in our planet’s life.
Global data suggests there are just below 11,000 different species of birds compared to reptiles having aroundGlobal data suggests there are just below 11,000 different species of birds compared to reptiles having around 11,500 and insects with a whopping 1.05 million in Australia. And out of 833 species of birds 675 are not concerned with endangerment, and 76 species are critically endangered and the remaining 82 are either endangered or vulnerable.
Originally in the first semester we wanted to help the critically endangered black cockatoos, but because the government had banned the installation of black cockatoo boxes in our local aria we couldn’t target this species.
As a result of that we changed to the vulnerable Australian ringneck.
the Australian ringnecks are not currently endangered but due to the introduced species, the rainbow lorikeet that eats the same food and lives in the same area, the number of Australian ringnecks is rapidly declining. With the help of the re-cyc-ology project with simon cherriman and dani we ran a workshop during which we built 10 bird boxes, gave 4 away to people there and sold the remaining ones.
Here are some photos of me and Tristan working on the boxes. We followed the design of a PDF Simon Cherriman had provided. After some minor tweaks to fit our needs, we managed to make 3 bird boxes on our own and then as a group we built 10 more (In the workshop), two of the three we made ourselves was put up in our local area’s and the third went to Ms Provis (Our principal) to install in her Albany home down south. (This are old photos from last semester)
Our past 4 boxes we made had a great sucksess. Although we only got ringnecks prospecting for a home, we did have 2 galars hatch their eggs. In total we had 3 baby pink galars hatch and take flight, and still have a full clutch of eggs to hatch.
However, in one of the four boxes was infested with bees. We believe this was because we put the box in a shaded aria with no wind, making it easy for the bees to build a hive.
What we did do when building the 13 boxes this semester is line the new boxes with metal because our last boxes were ravaged by galahs, this protects our box from attacks and increase durability from the elements. The metal also protects from the bees because they find it harder to stick hive to aluminium. Finally, we added hinges to the boxes so that this time you can easily open and check the boxes.
Another thing Tristan and I did this semester was we gave 2 boxes to the kindy and early childhood center of our school and gave a short presentation to them. This was very benificial because we personally beleive that teaching the future generations is critically important when trying to solve global issues. The photos below show us doing our presentation;
Through out this project Tristan and I have managed to grow our capabilities. We grew it teamwork, organisation and problem solving. This was a great course and we both learned so much.
Special thanks to Simon and Dani for helping us with our project this semester. And a huge thanks to our teacher Ms Donnelly and also a big thanks to Ms Brookland, Mr Haddow and our parents.
Finally here are some more photos of Tristan, Ms Donnelly, Simon, Dani and I.
Bibliography
•https://www.bbva.com/en/sustainability/what-is-bbva-doing-for-the-sustainability-of-life-on-land/ •https://ebird.org/species/polpar1
•https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/12/sustainable-development-goals-kick-off-with-start-of-new-year/
•https://www.birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/australian-ringneck
•https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_lorikeet •https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019/03/australias-five-black-cockatoos/ •https://thegardeningcook.com/log-planters/
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHav3zGxSb8