Thousands of birds flock to Australia's inland lakes after record rain

The influx includes a newly discovered breeding colony of the nomadic and somewhat mysterious banded stilt

Helen Davidson

Monday 3 April 2017 06.57 BST Last modified on Monday 3 April 2017 08.26 BST 

Tens of thousands of coastal birds have flocked to the outback after record-breaking rains filled inland lakes to their highest levels in three decades.

The influx includes a newly discovered breeding colony of the nomadic and somewhat mysterious banded stilts, on one of the lakes’ islands in the remote eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Following torrential January rains, Parks and Wildlife in conjunction with the Indigenous Desert Alliance, arranged an aerial survey of the region’s wetlands, flooded rivers and lakes.

Gareth Catt, spokesman for the Alliance, said the flyover and the data collected about the lakes “filled holes” in the knowledge of the desert region’s ecology and showed the remote lakes were more valuable than previously thought.

“These ephemeral events don’t really get picked up in general surveys when they occur,” he said.

“Knowing these things are out there provides a tangible value to this environment that people don’t even know exist.

“In satellite imagery we saw they were absolutely brimming with water and that swung us into action pretty quickly,” said Catt.

“Our main hope was that we would find banded stilts, which was the main bird we did find in very large numbers, but it was a mainly a general survey which hadn’t been done before in any systematic way.”

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Largest breeding colony of rare sea bird calls Norfolk its home

14 July 2016 at 7:30am

Norfolk has become home to the UK's largest breeding colony of a rare sea bird.

Little terns travel from West Africa to breed on our coasts each summer.

Monitoring has discovered 169 nests on an area of beach near Sea Palling in east Norfolk.

The RSPB said chicks would be starting to find their feet and urged visitors to the area to be careful.

Source… 

Reopening wharf could scare off rare shag

Since being closed to the public, Oamaru's historic Sumpter Wharf has become a breeding colony for an endangered and little-known species of shag.

Dr Chris Lalas

And with the Waitaki District Council now investigating reopening the 200m-long wharf to the public, scientists who know the birds are concerned.

Dunedin-based researcher Dr Chris Lalas, who has been studying shags for the last 40 years, first discovered Otago shag nests at the wharf in 2014.

"If it gets opened up to the public, it will totally destroy it as a shag location,'' Dr Lalas said.

Human use and an Otago shag breeding colony were "not compatible''.

Like the more common spotted shag, which are also a common sight on the wharf, it was believed Otago shags only roosted at the wharf and he was surprised to find them breeding there.

In 2015, he counted 235 nests at the wharf.

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Alderney campaign to protect ringed plover birds

3 May 2014 Last updated at 11:03

Platte Saline is the last breeding colony of the ringed plover in the Channel Islands

After just six ringed plover chicks reached adulthood in six years, wildlife experts have urged the public to avoid nesting sites.

Tim Morley from the Alderney Wildlife Trust said human interference had a major impact on the only Channel Island breeding site for the birds.

He said in 2013 three of the chicks reached fledging age and one nest had already been seen this year.

He said if the issues continued they would consider fencing off the area.

Platte Saline in Alderney is home to the only known regular breeding population of ringed plovers in the Channel Islands.

Breeding season is from late April to July and the birds nest at the high tide line on the beach.

Continued

6000 Muttonbird nests destroyed on Tasmania to make way for a golf course

Muttonbirds left homeless on Tasmania

October 2013. Developers on Tasmania's King Island have destroyed thousands of burrows in a Short-tailed Shearwater breeding colony at Cape Wickham. Why? To make way for a golf course.

Huge migration

The burrows were due to be occupied by the birds in a few days, as the shearwaters are currently returning to Bass Strait on the return leg of their epic migratory flight back from the northernmost waters of the Pacific Ocean. The islands of Bass Strait form the stronghold of the species, with most of the world's population breeding there. Each year the birds usually return to the same colony, with most breeding in the same burrows they used in previous years.

"Shearwaters are about to return to their colonies from their annual migration to the North Pacific," said Dr Eric Woehler, Convenor of BirdLife Tasmania, "but when the birds return to Cape Wickham, many will find their colony - one that's been used for decades - is now a golf course."

6000 burrows bulldozed

The colony hosted an estimated 45,000 burrows, of which at least 6000 have been bulldozed to make way for the golf course at the northern end of King Island. Some of these burrows may have been occupied by the same shearwaters for up to 40 years.

"It's going to have an impact on the population," said Dr Woehler.

Approval from local ministry

Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) gave the project its approval on the condition of the construction ‘respecting' the birds during their breeding season and that an alternative site ‘adjacent the golf course' is offered as an offset, supposedly providing another area for the birds to nest in.

"It beggars belief to think that a wild bird which has nested in one location for many years will happily pick up and settle down 'adjacent the golf course' just because the [King Island] Council, DPIPWE and the developer prefer them to do so," continued Dr Woehler. "The birds should decide where to lay their eggs and raise their young, not the developers of a golf course".

This situation highlights the folly of allowing developers to use offsets in the pretence that their activities will not adversely affect the wildlife that their developments have displaced.

Profound lack of understanding of the muttonbirds

"The approval by DPIPWE and associated conditions underlines the profound lack of understanding of the muttonbirds' biology and breeding requirements, and is a manifest comprehensive failure to protect the species," he added. "The lack of any effort to protect these birds and their colony suggests that golf courses are more important than this nationally- and internationally-protected species."

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/muttonbird-tasmania.html