Birds of the Strathbogies

The following blog post is part of this exercise.

Birdwatching: combining leisure and conservation.

Crimson Rosella are easy to see in Boho South. Photo by SouthernAnt on Flickr.

BOCA bird camp

The Strathbogie Tableland is a special part of the world, hidden on a plateau in the Strathbogie Ranges, 200 km north-east of Melbourne. It’s here that Bird Observation and Conservation Australia (BOCA) spent five days camping and birdwatching recently.

Both BOCA members and non-members are welcome to join in on holidays like this, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The aims are to socialise, to relax, and to watch birds and collect valuable information on them.

I joined this BOCA camp for one afternoon for a walk in a private property in a part of the Tableland called Boho South.

Birdwatching

Birdwatching isn’t difficult. All you need are a pair of binoculars, a bird identification book, and an interest in birds. Of course, it helps to have the company of a more experienced birder, which is why joining a bird camp is a great way to learn more.

Birdwatching isn’t boring, either. Many people envisage birdwatching as sitting silently in a hide, watching birds as they pass by. In reality, there are many ways to watch birds. On this bird camp, we simply went for a small walk and kept an eye out for birds. The aim was to enjoy the bush as much as it was to enjoy the birds.

Conservation

Birdwatching is more than a sociable and leisurely pastime. Data collected from birdwatching can be valuable for conservation. Many landowners who are actively engaged in revegetating parts of their property ask BOCA and other birdwatching groups to survey their land.

The result is that land owners find out which bird species are found on their property, and the ornithological community—that is, the community concerned with the study of birds—can add to its bird distribution records. Ultimately, we can determine which areas are the most important to protect, depending on species diversity and the presence of threatened species.

Why birds?

Birds are good indicators of how healthy an environment is. What’s more, generally, they’re easier to see than other fauna, and research suggests that rises and dips in bird populations can indicate environmental change.

Join in

Anyone is welcome on BOCA camps, regardless of membership and birding experience. It’s a relaxing weekend activity where you can combine leisure-time in the bush with a little bit of conservation, and learn something new. Contact BOCA for more information.

Returning to the bush

The following blog post is part of this exercise, however, the article has been written for the blog on my chosen web site (G Online).

Helping life return to the Yarra Ranges after bushfire

 

Clearing Cumberland Walk. Photo by C Eaw, used with permission.

 

Bushfire recovery

Two weekends ago, I volunteered for Bushwalking Victoria’s bushfire recovery effort in the Yarra Ranges, east of Melbourne.

About 38% of Yarra Ranges National Park burned in February’s bushfires. Our task in the Yarra Ranges for the weekend was to clear bushwalking tracks to make them safe for people again. This meant removing logs, pruning branches, and casting away any twigs or bark that might trip up a person.

People can be in danger in the bush even after a bushfire has passed. Limbs can fall without warning, and tracks can become heavily eroded.

The track we worked on was no exception. That weekend, as I stood on an exposed section of Cumberland Walk—a once beautiful rainforest walk, now burnt, that takes visitors through roughly 4 km of Myrtle Beech forest—charred timber crumbled beneath my boots. The wind roared and tree limbs creaked, threatening to fall at any time. Imagining how frightening the place would have been in a fire wasn’t difficult.

After a fire, it takes time for people to return to the bush. Bushwalking Victoria’s ultimate goal was to make the Yarra Ranges accessible to walkers once more, and engage the community in a positive way post-bushfires.

War against trees

The crumbling track on Cumberland Walk. Photo by C Eaw, used with permission.

One negative result of the bushfires—among the many—is that people have turned against trees. In a way, it’s understandable; when a bushfire is raging, people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake. But is the answer to destroy already depleted vegetation?

Trees are home to wildlife that are already suffering from rapidly increasing urban encroachment. To clear yet more land would be disasterous for wildlife; not to mention, for people—experts argue that trees can mitigate bushfire by reducing windspeed. In this way, actually, trees can help protect homes.

Consequently, conservationists and people whose homes are at risk from bushfires needn’t be at loggerheads. Yet there seems to be a local dilemma that reflects a global predicament; can humans and wildlife co-exist?

Regardless, Bushwalking Victoria’s bushfire recovery effort aims to encourage people to return to the bush. And, the more people spend time in the bush, the more people grow to love it and consider it to be valuable to both humans and animals alike.

You can help

To get involved with Bushwalking Victoria’s conservation activities, contact Bushwalking Victoria directly.

The Mecca of birdlife

This article is part of this exercise.

Melbourne’s Western Treatment Plant is world-class for birdwatching.

Birds of the Western Treatment Plant

Waders are challenging to identify. Even Fred Smith—birdwatcher extraordinaire—once called them “little brown jobs”. In other words, they all look the same.

One of the best places to see waders in Australia is the Western Treatment Plant. For the uninitiated, the idea of a sewage plant being a RAMSAR site may be puzzling. But birds flock here from as far as Siberia and Alaska to spend their summer months down under, and once you see the variety of birds here, you won’t question why it’s been hailed as a world-class birdwatching venue.

Exploring the Western Treatment Plant isn’t as messy as you might expect. Most people take a 4WD and, essentially, go on a bird safari. So, trudging knee-deep in waste isn’t on the cards. Instead, armed with binoculars the size of my head, one Sunday, I piled into the car with four other birders. I was prepared for anything.

Golden-headed Cisticola http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozjulian/285405132/

For a city-dweller and a person relatively new to birds, the Western Treatment Plant doesn’t disappoint. The treatment plant is only half an hour from Melbourne, yet the range of birdlife compared to inner-city Melbourne is astronomical. The day I joined the other birders, we picked up 97 species. That’s a high number, even for an experienced birder.

Instead of being restricted to the usual Common Myna, Common Blackbird, Australian Magpie and Silver Gull—all found in Melbourne—the treatment plant was home to raptors, waders, wrens, finches and more.

My favourite bird of the day was the Golden-headed Cisticola; a small orange grassbird with dark streaky plumage. Though not a wader, it could be described as one of Fred Smith’s “little brown jobs”. It wasn’t until I looked at one carefully through my binoculars that I noticed what a beautiful bird it was.

Tips for the traveller

For those of you toying with the idea of spending a day at the Western Treatment Plant in search of birds, I have a few tips for you.

• Go with someone who knows birds. You will see double (if not more) the amount of birds you would have seen otherwise.

• Definitely bring binoculars. You won’t see a thing without them.

• You need to a permit to enter the Western Treatment Plant. Join someone who has one.

• Open your mind.

Many people think of birds as simply part of the landscape—like a blade of grass in a meadow. But birds are everywhere; they come in all different shapes and sizes, and it’s not until you realise how many birds there are around us, and the different roles they play in the same ecosystem, that you’ll come to appreciate those “little brown jobs” for what they truly are. That is, anything but something that is simply little and brown.