birding-aus

Deaths of White-faced Herons

To: "Birding-aus" <>
Subject: Deaths of White-faced Herons
From: "Robyn" <>
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2006 21:55:33 +1000
Over the past year, I have had four different identifiable White-faced Herons 
in my yard quite frequently (not all at the same time).

Two were a long-established pair, one was their offspring, the fourth was the 
offspring of the female.

In October last year, the older male died a slow suffering death after having 
fishing line twisted tightly around its foot and instep.  (Wildlife volunteers 
could not catch him to remove the line.)

The female took another partner and did breed again, but in March this year, 
whilst I was away on holidays, she disappeared - obviously dead.

This week, the two-year-old male offspring of the original pair has died after 
a horrible week.   He'd swallowed a fish hook and had a swivel, sinker and 
metres of fishing line hanging from his gape.

In less than a year, three out of four White-faced Herons have died - not a 
great survival rate considering they had made it to adulthood.   Not a great 
advertisement for fisher people, is it!!!!

The more line we pick up along the river here in Maroochydore (SEQ), the more 
seems to appear.   I wish these vandals could see the results of what they do.

Life is tough enough for our birds without humans adding to their woes.

Robyn
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