Hi Birders
Pied Cormorants are a common sight at The Entrance, a large tourist town
located on the narrow channel that connects the sea with Tuggerah Lakes,
on the NSW Central. Coast. The Entrance is famous as a site of caravan parks
and boarding houses and weekenders where past Sydneysiders holidayed on the
coast by both working class families from Sydney and the people of inland
rural NSW. Nowdays it is a very busy tourist/residential town, in reality, a
seaside suburb now of Wyong, and connected by continous urban areas all the
way back to Gosford, 14 km to the south & to Wyong, 16 km to the west.
Pied Cormorants are common birds of the shallow Tuggerah Lakes and the
offshore pelagic areas. They previously nested in a clump of Melaleucas in
the middle of Colongra Swamp, a freshwater swamp that is seperated from Lake
Munmorah, by a narrow bern. Lake Munmorah is the 3rd of the Lakes that make
up Tuggerah Lakes.
Due to the drought, Colongra Lake has been dry for at least two years and
Pied Cormorants have had nowhere nest, until now that is. The town of The
Entrance and Wyong Shire in particular have had a love affair with Norfolk
Island Pines, Canary Island Palms and Coconut Plams, and most if not all the
landscaping of the town's parks and gardens and the street scapes are using
these three main trees. The Indian Mynas love them and hordes of Rainbow
Lorikeest roost in them.
Yesterday to my surprise when taking a walk along the "boardwalk" at the
Entrance, which is in effect a concrete causeway along the Entrance Channel
with some narrow parks, mostly mown areas of kikuyu between the waters edge
(no intertidal areas here as they have all been filled in) planted with
Norfolk Island Pines and Coconut Palms, between the road and the many
residential & hotel tower blocks, I realised that there was a very active
nesting colony of Pied Cormorants in the tops of three adjoining Norfolk
Island Pines. I counted over 80 nests in the three trees, mostly in the top
one quarter of the trees. The nests were built of seaweed (Poisadonia sp.)
and the birds appear to be at the egg and small young in the nest stage. The
noise, the smell and the mess on the footpath was as you would expect! Once
there are large young in the nest, the noise, the smell and the mess is
going to be much worse..
Previously Council has been concerned about the mess that is made by
roosting Little Black Cormorants, when 2-300 birds roost in the Norfolk
Island Pines when the bait fish are running, but that situation usually only
lasts a few weeks around Christmas. As this colony possibly expands to
adjoining trees and the noise, smell and mess increases, it will be
interesting to see what Wyong Council will do because I expect that the
residents and the many fishermen along the boardwalk beneath these trees
will start complaining loudly and expect Council to take action!
I am unaware of any other colonies of Pied Cormorants in such an urban
enviroment.
Alan Morris
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