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If there is sufficient interest I'm proposing a
trip to view the extensive cormorant nesting on the eastern side of Black
Mountain Peninsula (see February Gang-gang) this Sunday morning.
My aim will be to move close very slowly so we can
get a much better estimate of the number of nests.
The need for this has been underlined by learning
last week of the proposal by the ACT Water Ski Association to trial a water ski
training facility at this very spot in the late spring of 2005.
In my view it is very likely that this
breeding spot, which is assuming regional importance, will be severely impacted
by this proposal if it goes ahead.
If you are interested in joining please let me
know. We will be travelling in the electric boat leaving at 7:30 or 8 am
for 1.5 hours at a cost of $15 per person.
I know this clashes with the official COG camp-out
at Saltwater Creek. I've always been very reluctant to provide choice in
COG trips, but I will have limited opportunities to look at Black Mountain
Peninsula over the next month.
If you would have liked to join in but will be
camping (or otherwise unable) please let me know?
Another possibility is the "Chicken and Champagne"
trip up the Molonglo at 5:30 pm if there is sufficient interest. Jim the
skipper tells me there are even more darters nesting there now than were in
January. He also tells me a darter has started to nest on one of the
little islets off Aspen Island (Carillon). Does this signify the start of
a third breeding site?
I will also raise both possibilities at the COG
meeting on Wed night.
Jack Holland
PS In case you missed it, an excerpt from the
write up for the January trip to Black Mountain Peninsula follows:
Our first objective was to check for darter/cormorant breeding in the
willows etc along the eastern bank of Black Mountain Peninsula. This is a
relatively new breeding spot for these species, and a check by Jim the skipper
in November had indicated it was at a much lower level compared with Molonglo
Reach. However, this was not the case by mid-January, in fact the level of
breeding activity rivalled the more traditional spot.
Initially a group
of up to 12 Little Pied Cormorant nests were seen close to the entrance to
Sullivan's Creek. This was dwarfed by the extent of breeding further down
round about the start of Gary Owen Drive where there were "wall to wall" nests
and several apartment blocks over a couple of 100 metres. Most of these
were either Little Pied or Little Black Cormorants, all of which were very quick
to take flight making estimates of the number of nests and their stages
difficult for the at least 50 birds present of each species. However, at
least one nest contained 3 lovely dark downy young of the latter.
Scattered amongst these were at least half a dozen Darter nests with
breeding at all stages, some with a parent (male or female) sitting tight, a
couple of nests with large but still very downy young, and
several juveniles
sitting a metre or so out of the nest. A bit further down were 2 more
Darter nests, with in one case a very young chick with its neck spiralling in
typical fashion towards the sitting parent. Of
the 15 or so Darters, 4
were males in breeding plumage.
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