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Point Cook/Cheetham Wetlands (Victoria) access - American Golden Plover

To: Martin Butterfield <>
Subject: Point Cook/Cheetham Wetlands (Victoria) access - American Golden Plover and Oriental Plover
From: Jenny Spry <>
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 19:46:50 +1100
 But in this case Martin, mail was sent to B - A via some list members
advising "birders" that the rangers wanted people to contact them to
arrange entry and also how to contact the rangers, either at their office
at Point Cook Road, about 5 km from the restricted area and the birds, or
by phone.

Also in this case some of the "birders" who entered the area without
permission were totally open about it and posted comments on Facebook
saying when they entered the area and giving directions to other birders as
to the best way and places to "jump the fence".

In this case the 'rangers' did use mechanisms such as birding-aus, via the
Melbourne birding community. And in this case some of the specific
offenders were quite happy to comment on Facebook.

This situation need not have arisen because, as can be seen on Birdline Vic
for Saturday 22/2, the birds can be seen and photographed on the totally
open to the public rocks along the beach. "jumping the fence" as promoted
by some on Facebook is not needed if for some reason the rangers had
refused entry at the time the "birder" want to see the birds.

cheers

Jenny
http://jenniferspryausbirding.blogspot.com.au/




On 23 February 2014 18:20, Martin Butterfield <> wrote:

> It is a pity that 'birders' seem to be offenders of choice by rangers
> whenever malfeasance has occurred in the vicinity of birding sites.  There
> rarely seems to be any specifics attached to such statements and 'rangers'
> rarely seem to use mechanisms such as birding-aus to seek support for their
> activities or to draw folks attention to bad behaviour.
>
> Martin
>
> Martin Butterfield
> http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/
>
>
> On 23 February 2014 17:26, Paul Dodd <> wrote:
>
> > Hi birders,
> >
> >
> >
> > Ruth and I went to Point Cook today to have another look for the
> (probable)
> > American Golden Plover. We had previously tried in December with no luck.
> > In
> > December, however, we caught up with Bernie, one of the rangers, and he
> > allowed us to drive into the restricted area to look for the bird. I note
> > that access has been provided in recent times and that Bernie has even
> > driven people around the site to find both the AGP and the Oriental
> Plover
> > that is present. Anyway, today we called Bernie to see if we could get
> > access and he told us that Parks Victoria would no longer be providing
> > access to the restricted part of Cheetham wetlands because birders have
> > apparently caused damage to gates and fences and have been caught walking
> > over sensitive habitat (he said "nesting sites"). This means that the
> site
> > that the Oriental Plover has been seen is off-limits, as is the high-tide
> > roost for the Golden Plovers).
> >
> >
> >
> > The good news, though, is that it is still possible to see the American
> > Golden Plover. Ruth and I found a group of at least 17 Golden Plovers on
> > the
> > westernmost rocky point near the homestead about four hours after high
> > tide.
> > When we were there in December we also found a group of six Golden
> Plovers
> > at the same spot - unfortunately something spooked them before we could
> get
> > close. Of the 17 Golden Plovers, one immediately stood out as being
> > different (a paler bird with a much broader supercilium). I will post
> some
> > pictures in a day or two, but I have been having Internet speed problems
> > and
> > need to get that resolved first. In the meantime I posted a small image
> to
> > Birdline.
> >
> >
> >
> > Paul Dodd
> >
> > Docklands, Victoria
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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