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The Metromix wetlands rehabilitation site
opposite Cronulla High School (southern suburbs in Sydney, NSW) that were
visited by Edwin Vella last weekend were rather quiet today (Sunday 27th June).
It was cloudy, a little windy (there was a chop on the pond) and the site was
visited between 11.00am and 12.30pm. Not my usual time to inspect the site ...
more a relaxed start to the day.
The pond looked decidedly empty on our arrival
and at now stage were there large numbers of birds. Gone were the usual Chestnut
Teals, the Grey Teals, Black Duck and there were even no Eastern Swamphens and
Dusky Moorhens present. No sign of the Black Winged Stilts either.
I even thought at one stage that we would fail
to see the regular Marsh Harrier that Edwin described so well last week.
However, as we skirted the grasses on the
western bund we flushed it. It had been sitting quietly either in the grasses or
on its edge. It flew to the sand bar in the middle of the pond where it roosted
.. flushing up the Silver Gulls. At that moment a Whistling Kite also came in,
then landed in the casuarinas to the NE of the site.
Out on the pond there was a solitary Black Swan,
head tucked down its back; a lone Musk Duck, patrolling its patch with intent; a
lone Australian Little Grebe, several Little Pied Cormorant and little
else.
We did better along the edges and in the
mangroves, as we found a small flock of Royal Spoonbill feeding the shallows in
the bay at the end of the track through this stretch, a Sacred kingfisher and
some Little Thornbills. This was where the Australian Pelicans were working
too.
Even the Golden Headed Cisticolas were just a
sound today. And the Clamorous Reed Warbler was not even that. Never mind. This
site is well worth regular visits and it was still a most restful way to spend
the late morning before returning to work this afternoon.
Brian Everingham
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