John, I agree with you. I visit Crace wetlands probably two or three times a year as I normally concentrate on the two wetlands in McKellar for my waterbird “fix”. I can remember when Crace was first planted and as you say, there were some excellent areas of open mud between the plantings. Interestingly though, I tend to record crakes on the edge of the larger, open pond where there is a lot less rush growth. However this larger pond suffers from the blight of all the local wetlands – they are designed as rubbish traps to protect the larger lakes from becoming polluted, a job they do brilliantly. Unfortunately they appear to never have this massive accumulation of rubbish removed. Earlier this year the local residents (???) near the small McKellar wetland took on the job and removed what must have amounted to several tons of rubbish when the pond almost dried out. This is the sort of job that could be undertaken by people on court ordered community service orders. I suggest you get on to the Minister responsible for Territory and Municipal Services and bring both matters to his attention. You may also want to bring up the points we both made during the “blitz” about uncontrolled dogs sent into the water to retrieve tennis balls and the use of model powerboats disturbing the ducks. It could also be a good time to bring up the records of feral ducks on the lakes and ponds. With regard to your concerns about the crakes disappearing on Ginninderra Creek because of the growth of reeds, I don’t think this really has an effect on crakes, in reality it is a far more ideal habitat for them. If you ever get up that way, have a look at the Lake Cargellico sewage works where all three of the local crake species are abundant in the heavy reed growth. When it all boils down to it, we feel miffed if we can’t see the crakes and small rails that occur in this (artificial) habitat. Cheers, Mark From: John Harris [
Sent: Monday, 3 November 2014 9:20 AM
To: John Brown
Cc: chatline
Subject: [canberrabirds] Overgrowth at Crace Wetland There doesn’t seem a pattern to the times of day the Spotted Crakes emerge and forage on the edge of the reed beds.. They are becoming LESS visible because of the growth of the reeds etc. I don’t quite know what to do about this, if anything, and would welcome suggestions. There used to be a little mudflat on the north side of the wetland bit, half way along the path. It is now almost fully overgrown with reeds although it is still the place to see them as they forage along the edge. There are very few shallow spots now in the wetland and what there is is decreasing and may disappear altogether this summer. While I realise the water-cleansing function of the reed beds, they are also supposed to be a bird habitat and it would be a pity if the habitat became unsuitable to wading birds etc. Some years ago there were open shallow patches in the old bed of Ginninderra Creek, not the constructed section which is tne dam outlet joining the original creek about 400 metres downstream. Crakes were always in the old bed, which had become a kind of billabong, flowing only in very heavy rain, but as it got overgrown with reeds the crakes disappeared. The old bed is now completely choked which is fine for the Reed warblers and Grassbirds but little else. Do we want Crace wetland to go down this path? Thanks. That's curious, because I only drop I occasionally and have only see the spotted' since! I'll try dropping in a bit more often for a bit and see how I go. Perhaps I'll try different times of day. I suspect the spotteds dont emerge early in the morning? I walk over there almost every day. The pair of Spotted Crakes are almost always visible. I had held high hopes for them breeding but no evidence yet. Baillon’s Crake is a bit more elusive and I probably only see it about once a week. I cheat a bit and if I see it, I tend to choose that as my reporting day. After all, COG doesn’t really want a daily report. I have not seen the Spotless crake since last year. It’s not always possible to spot the crakes at Crace pond, but I was in luck today! John
|
|
