Darters and Brown Treecreepers
Having some spare time in Canberra today, and feeling like a bike ride I took myself along the Molonglo River and out to what is known to Canberra Birders as the Newline Paddocks. This is an area of leasehold land just to the East of the Airport.
Riding along the bike path beside the Molonglo I noticed that one of the Darter (Anhinga melanogaster) nests in the willows on the South bank of the river still had four chicks in it.
Swinging my binoculars a little upstream (ie to the East) I noticed a tree full of Darters of various demographic (hmm demos is Greek for 'people': perhaps I should say avidemographic?) classes.
Here are some clips from that snap showing the range of plumages evident,probably reflecting different age/sex combinations
Also clipped from the assemblage shot is this image showing why the Darter (and indeed most Anhingas worldwide) are known as 'Snakebirds'.
On getting to Newline I was delighted to hear the calls of Brown Treecreepers (Climacteris picumnus). There seemed to be at least 3 and perhaps 4 birds in the area. The first image is quite well focussed but the second, less good, shot gives a better view of the bird in profile.
On the less good side, the Newline Paddocks were still full of seedy grass and an awful lot of introduced weeds (thistles, verbascum, pyracantha etc etc). As the land is controlled by the Defence Deparment they need to do something about the latter problem (although they probably feel have a few other higher priority issues at the moment).
On my way back to the City I went past Jerrabombera Wetlands. The Government there is busy removing the willows along Jerrabombera Creek. This is to some extent fine - they are introduced invasive trees - but they are used by birds for breeding (eg Spoonbills and kites). I am not sure the ACT Environment Department has the budgetary or technical ability to manage the competing demands. Then it was past the Norgrove Park area in Kingston where the private sector - presumably with tho acquiescence of the ACT Government - is busy destroying what was an absolute gem of an area for crakes and rails. Bummer.
Riding along the bike path beside the Molonglo I noticed that one of the Darter (Anhinga melanogaster) nests in the willows on the South bank of the river still had four chicks in it.
On my way back to the City I went past Jerrabombera Wetlands. The Government there is busy removing the willows along Jerrabombera Creek. This is to some extent fine - they are introduced invasive trees - but they are used by birds for breeding (eg Spoonbills and kites). I am not sure the ACT Environment Department has the budgetary or technical ability to manage the competing demands. Then it was past the Norgrove Park area in Kingston where the private sector - presumably with tho acquiescence of the ACT Government - is busy destroying what was an absolute gem of an area for crakes and rails. Bummer.
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