2.2 Foraging Biology

FORAGING DETAILS
Food species: the fruits (seeds) of Brown/Desert Stringybark Euc. baxteri/arenacea (72% of feeding records by Joseph 1982); and the cones (seeds) of Buloke Allocasuarina leuhmannii (28% of records by Joseph 1982).

Figure 8. RTBC Food Species (Costermans 1994)

Feeding season: RTBCs are observed feeding in stringybark at all times of year. By contrast, Buloke seems to be used only in summer/autumn when new Buloke cones are produced. The situation revealed by the March 1997 survey was:

Figure 9. RTBC Survey March 1997

All sightings north of Edenhope (72%) were in Buloke at the time of the survey. Interestingly, the survey a year later, in February 1998, revealed NO birds in Buloke habitat north of Edenhope, and fruiting and cone formation seemed to be greatly reduced in that season; there appears to be considerable variability in the availability of this resource.
Food location: stringybark has already been mapped in Section 1. Buloke distribution can be approximately determined by ruling a line across Figure 1 at Edenhope’s latitude: Buloke occurs north of this line.

Figure 10. Lone Buloke in Cereal Paddock

Figure 11. Typical Stringybark Habitat
Note sandy soil, heathy (banksia) understorey and stringybark overstorey.