The impact of the 2019−2020 megafire on forest birds in the Shoalhaven Local Government Area, New South Wales, Australia

The 2019–2020 wildfires along the east coast of Australia were more extensive and severe than previous burns recorded in European history. To investigate the impact of this megafire on avifauna, we conducted 744 time−area limited searches with the Shoalhaven region on the south coast of New South Wales from over 163 sites during 2020–2022. Areas affected by high severity canopy burns had a significant decline in the number of birds, though this impact was short lived. We investigated several environmental attributes that may explain these results and found soil moisture (gully vs midslope vs ridge) was not significant, but season was. The drought that preceded the wildfire did not have a significant impact on diversity but did impact abundance. A similar number of species were recorded post wildfire in burnt and unburnt sites each year with 131 species detected over the survey. Of these 114 were recorded in burnt sites and 108 in unburnt sites. The Glossy Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus lathami, a species listed under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and by the Federal Government, was identified as a priority species for assessment as much of its regular food resource (Black She-oak Allocasuarina littoralis seed) was destroyed by the fire. This species was detected after the fire in peri-urban, unburnt patches of bush, and unburnt coastal reserves where it fed on Scrub She-oak Allocasuarina distyla seed.