Victoria 4.3 License Open Access

Victoria 4.3 License Open Access

McCarthy b Show more Add to Mendeley Share Cite Get rights and content Under a Creative Commons license open access Highlights Brolga chicks used 13 wetlands as night roosts before fledging.

Brolga breeding site movements were comparable with other crane species.

Habitat management should incorporate 3 wetlands and movement corridors.

Abstract Built infrastructure, such as wind farms and power lines, can impair wildlife movement.

These barriers may displace individuals from important habitats due to direct mortality or disturbance.

Understanding animal movement patterns can help avoid such impacts and manage population level effects.

Avoiding impacts and implementing mitigation strategies is difficult when movement and home range information is lacking.

The number of wind farm developments is increasing in southern Australia within the core range of the south-eastern brolga ( Antigone rubicunda ) population.

The main threats to this wetland bird include habitat loss, chick predation and collisions with power lines and fences.

Wind farms may increase collision and mortality risk, and habitat displacement but the impact is difficult to assess or mitigate, as movement patterns and home range size are unknown.

We deployed 11 GPS transmitters on pre-fledged brolga chicks at breeding sites in 20102012, including one at a wind farm, to investigate movement and home range use of brolga chicks.

Brolga chicks moved 442 m on average, to and from night roost wetlands (range: 0 m1964 m).

The average breeding home range was 232 ha, estimated with a Brownian bridge movement model at 95 UD, but varied greatly between individuals (70 ha523 ha).

Brolgas used either single or multiple wetlands, and those using multiple wetlands either switched between them or relocated permanently.

Information from this study can be used to design turbinefree buffers at brolga breeding sites and to manage breeding wetlands.

Graphical abstract Aerial photography from World Imagery ArcGIS (ESRI 2015).

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