ABUNDANCE OF EASTERN BRISTLEBIRDS IN RELATION TO HABITAT AND FIRE HISTORY

Eastern Bristlebirds were counted in Jervis Bay Territory along transe cts that were located in area that had been burnt recently (i.e. 0-7 y ears ago) and in areas that had last burnt longer ago (i.e. 13-14 year s ago). Most of the reserve had not burnt for at least 13 years. The t ransects in recently burnt areas were never more than about 300 m from older unburnt areas. The close proximity of transects in the recently burnt areas to older burnt areas, where Eastern Bristlebirds are appa rently relatively abundant, may explain the observed absence of a sign ificant effect of time since the last fire on bristlebird numbers. Com bining the results of this study with those of a similar study in Barr en Ground Nature Reserve (Bramwell et al. 1992), suggests that densiti es increase with increasing time since the last fire up to about 9 yea rs and then remain relatively constant for at least another four years . These two studies also support the view that Eastern Bristlebirds co mmonly occur in areas where woodland adjoins health and in areas of re latively mature heath.