Dear Michael
Your advice is very good and I strongly encourage birders to take it up. Wearing my eBird reviewer hat, I can say that our more active local eBirders do delay reporting nesting birds where the species is rare or threatened in the ACT or is particularly
attractive to humans. Sometimes these delays are for many months. The best way to delay reporting is to create the list as usual, submit it and then Hide it using Checklist Tools. This means only the observer can see it , though the records still appear in
your personal stats. You can Unhide the list after a suitable period so that the records are then included in the eBird database.
The disruptive behaviour we see (disruptive to birds and to other people) is very often newer birders, or newer eBirders who haven't yet come to grips with the wide world of birding in the internet age. Sometimes it is people visiting from interstate,
and of course it is sometimes people who do and should know better but choose not to behave ethically.
Kim
On Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM Michael Lenz via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
It is certainly very good that the ranger Ben Harvey has created an exclusion zone at WBP.
But there is still the generic issue of how best we can protect special nesting activity from people unconcerned about the wellbeing of the birds. Kym Bradley's suggestion of NOT reporting such events on your ebird list(s) for the period of the breeding
event(s) is (are) taking place is highly recommended. I have done this in the past on several occasions, one only has to remember to amend the list(s) later, so that the record is not lost!
I would recommend in general NOT to describe detailed nest location such as on the chatline or in ebird lists, even of common birds. Raising a brood is a very demanding task, full of risks, for any bird, and we see a worldwide trend that even many common
species are no longer common (for a combination of reasons). So, anything we can do to help birds produce and raise young, is recommendable.
Michael Lenz
On Tue, 21 Jan 2025 at 13:46, Angela Booth via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
Thanks Steve. I'm really glad that Ben has been able to get something organised, especially as it is outside of his jurisdiction.
On Tue, 21 Jan 2025, 13:34 Steve Read, <> wrote:
Well done Angela!
I recall the same was done for the Painted Snipe roosting area at Jerra Wetlands many years ago, which eventually became the current Snipe Hide.
All the best
Steve
From: Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of Angela Booth via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, 21 January 2025 1:32 PM
To: michael mulvaney <>
Cc: Canberra birds <>
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Great Crested Grebes, good news and bad news.
I'm pleased to able to advise that late this morning ACT Parks Ranger Ben Harvey has organised for an exclusion zone to be put in place.
Let's just hope that everyone respects the exclusion area.
On Mon, 20 Jan 2025, 20:14 michael mulvaney, <> wrote:
Thanks Shorty _ actually as you can read below it is an offence under section 127 and 128 of the Nature Conservation Act to interfere with the nest of a native species or something in the immediate vicinity of the nest. Most of our Ranger
staff are ignorant and not trained in our wildlife laws and they certainly aren’t supported by a legal team - it is not that we don’t have wildlife laws is that those who are charged with enforcing them are either unaware of their responsibilities or turn
a blind eye. You could raise the matter with the Conservator of Flora and Fauna who has the ultimate responsibility in protecting nests of native species. You would need photographic or other evidence as to who was actually causing the damage - which is the
hard bit and you should not directly approach offenders. A photo of the people causing the damage and one of their number plate would be good.
Cheers Michael Mulvaney
Division
6.1.2 Native animals
127
Definitions—div 6.1.2
In this division:
interfere with an item, includes damage or destroy the item.
nest, of an animal, includes—
(a) a place, structure or object that is being, or has been within the previous 2 years, used as a nesting place by the animal; or
(b) a partially constructed nest that has not been used as a nesting place by the animal.
prohibited fruit netting means netting that has a mesh hole size greater than 5mm x 5mm when fully stretched.
128
Offence—interfere with nest of native animal
(1) A person commits an offence if the person—
(a) interferes with—
(i) the nest of an animal; or
(ii) something in the immediate environment of the nest of an animal; and
(b) the animal is a native animal.
Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.
Note Interfere with an item—see s 127.
On 20 Jan 2025, at 2:18 pm, shorty via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
Hi All,
Last Wednesday the GCG's started building a nest at West Belconnen Pond and the small number of us birders that knew have been keeping it quiet in fear that what I call the Social Media Photographers ( SMP's ) would find out about it.
This group that I call SMP's are not birders and have no respect or care of the wellbeing of the birds that they photograph, in the past they have been known to set up chairs over Rainbow Bee-eaters nests to get shots of the adults with
food for the young in the burrow just to get some photos, they have also been known to cut branches to get better shots of nesting birds.
On Sunday a Ranger visited the location and with dismay he noticed that someone has been trampling the reeds to get closer to the nest, this is environmental destruction and against the laws of wildlife harassment. Not being a Nature Reserve
the Ranger has no power to block off the area. Perhaps someone would know who to contact to try and get this done?
Also if anyone is out there and see's one of these SMP's in the reeds take a photo and report them please.
Not my photo but supplied to me to post with permission taken from the opposite bank.
![]() --
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra Ornithologists Group.
Emails posted to the list that exceed 2 MB (2,000 kB) in size, including attachments, will be rejected.
All emails distributed via the list are archived at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds. It is a condition of list membership that you agree to your contributions being archived.
Canberrabirds mailing list
https://lists.canberrabirds.org.au/mailman/listinfo/canberrabirds
--
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra Ornithologists Group.
Emails posted to the list that exceed 2 MB (2,000 kB) in size, including attachments, will be rejected.
All emails distributed via the list are archived at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds. It is a condition of list membership that you agree to your contributions being archived.
Canberrabirds mailing list
https://lists.canberrabirds.org.au/mailman/listinfo/canberrabirds
--
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra Ornithologists Group.
Emails posted to the list that exceed 2 MB (2,000 kB) in size, including attachments, will be rejected.
All emails distributed via the list are archived at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds. It is a condition of list membership that you agree to your contributions being archived.
Canberrabirds mailing list
https://lists.canberrabirds.org.au/mailman/listinfo/canberrabirds
--
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra Ornithologists Group.
Emails posted to the list that exceed 2 MB (2,000 kB) in size, including attachments, will be rejected.
All emails distributed via the list are archived at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds. It is a condition of list membership that you agree to your contributions being archived.
Canberrabirds mailing list
https://lists.canberrabirds.org.au/mailman/listinfo/canberrabirds
ATT00001.txt
Description: ATT00001.txt
|
