Sarus Cranes being disturbed by toggers

[MADELON LANE <>]

On a similar note but tragic. Today we were at Conway Beach, near Conway National Park, between Airlie Beach and Proserpine, Queensland and birding along a mangrove track off the main be. Heard the throaty roar of 4WDs roaring up the beach and when we came back out onto the beach saw the three young men hooning their three utes along the beach, speeding, donuts, bogging in the dunes, then roaring off back onto the road and off. 

We first saw a couple of disoriented adult Red Capped Plovers running aimlessly. Then the sad sight of more than a dozen half grown chicks milling about, some injured in the general zone of their crushed and ruined nests and siblings. 

Just another 15 minutes of fun for rednecks. In another few years maybe a local will casually notice “don’t see any Red Capped Plovers here anymore” and the extermination of all living things rolls on.

On Sat, 22 Aug 2020 at 6:28 pm, Phil Gregory <> wrote:

Just what I did not need today was yet another reason to be upset…. this time due to a couple of idiot photographers, a man and woman in late middle age both sporting 300mm lenses or some such, and who had scaled a farm fence near the Curtain Fig at Yungaburra and were walking across a field towards a large group of Sarus Cranes feeding. I suspect they were after flight shots, which they were undoubtedly about to get. Even more irritating was the fact that there were several close crane groups right by the fence just a little way down the road, easy to photograph from a car. I was surprised to see such thoughtless behaviour, maybe when you see a posting about Sarus Cranes near Yungaburra and dated Aug 22 on Facebook or Twitter someone could remind them about how to do things properly and not cause entirely unnecessary disturbance! 

I wish I’d had chance to stop and call them out but sadly I was unable to on this occasion.

Phil Gregory

ornithological writer/tour leader/tour facilitator

Field Guides / Sicklebill Safaris / Cassowary Tours
PO Box 597
Malanda
QLD 4885
Australia

Ph: +61 7 4096 8063 

Email: m("s2travel.com.au","info");" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">
Website1: http://www.sicklebillsafaris.com OR www.birder.travel

Website 2: http://www.cassowarytours.com.au

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