Tuggeranong's "South Quay" Fowl enclosure

[John Harris <>]

Swamphens and Moorhens regularly fly at Crace wetland. Nesting birds well inside the reed beds will fly over the outer reeds and crash awkwardly into the middle where they are nesting. I saw a Moorhen dart in among the ducks on the pond being fed with bread by a child, pick up a piece of bread, take off  from the water running noisily, flap awkwardly over the dividing bank and path and land in the wetland to feed it to her young.

From: Ross Kelly <>
Date: Thursday, 13 March 2014 7:43 am
To: "" <m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");">>
Subject: [canberrabirds] Tuggeranong's "South Quay" Fowl enclosure

Hi

 

I subscribe, although I am essentially unschooled about bird varieties.

 

I have a concern at the moment about the enormous fenced and gouged-to-bare-earth enclosure (it must be a dozen acres) at the south end of Lake Tuggeranong. This is the building site for the huge "South Quay" development that is in its early stages.

 

This fence goes right to the water's edge. It is over 2m high, has perhaps only several cm gap to the ground, and is essentially unbroken over its circumference of around 3km!

 

Walking alongside the site yesterday I saw a fowl of some kind in this building site. OK, it looked like a slightly smaller version of a chook, with much longer legs. It was black and brown, seemed to have a very tiny head and maybe a small red wattle (spelling?) under its beak.

 

You may already have guessed my concern ... can they fly? If not, it is in a predicament. The fence would have sprung up, and enlarged, around this formerly grassy, lakeside acreage with little regard for what may have been on the wrong side of the pre-fab fence panels.

 

So, perhaps someone can tell me if such a creature could fly out. There may be others, and different species.

 

Ross Kelly

Monash