I love watching waders. Okay, shorebirds if you must, I understand what you mean, but I'm quaintly old fashioned about what they're called. So I love watching waders. Actually, I love watching waterbirds too. But, ah those waders! They're something special. If truth be told, I'm absolutely hopeless at identifying them, but I could watch them all day.
Although we have plenty of resident waders to get excited about in Australia, there's an extra special buzz about the migratory birds who arrive here each spring and leave us again each autumn. Birds that spend our winter months breeding in China, Mongolia, Siberia, Japan and Alaska. It's just astounding to think about the distances these birds fly twice a year. So it's incredibly sad to know that many migratory wader species are experiencing long term decline. For example, the Eastern Curlew and the Curlew Sandpiper are now on the critically endangered list. Habitat loss seems to be the crucial factor, with the most pressing concerns being the huge losses of tidal flats along the seaboards of the Yellow Sea. Best not to be complacent about Australia though. Here wetlands have historically been bulldozed for developments such as marinas, resorts and even rubbish dumps. It's been estimated that, in New South Wales, 60% of all wetlands have been destroyed or degraded in the last 200 years (http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/wetlands/ThreatsToWetlands.htm). Sydney, as Australia's largest city, has seen enormous impacts on its wetlands. Even where wetlands remain, there are issues of modification, pollution and exotic species invasion.
I will breath a slight sigh of relief and report that some wetlands remain and are being restored, while others are being created. Along The Cooks River, Cup and Saucer Creek Wetland is an example of the latter, while Landing Lights Wetland is an example of the former. Landing Lights? Well, I can't swear to it, but it's probably named after the low-flying aircraft coming in to Sydney International Airport, which is about a kilometre away across The Cooks River. An alternative name is The Riverine Park Wetlands. Rockdale council has described the site as containing some of the last remaining saline wetlands in the area, and as being potential habitat for both migratory and resident Australian waders (https://www.rockdale.nsw.gov.au/environment/Pages/Environment_LLProject.aspx).
Although we have plenty of resident waders to get excited about in Australia, there's an extra special buzz about the migratory birds who arrive here each spring and leave us again each autumn. Birds that spend our winter months breeding in China, Mongolia, Siberia, Japan and Alaska. It's just astounding to think about the distances these birds fly twice a year. So it's incredibly sad to know that many migratory wader species are experiencing long term decline. For example, the Eastern Curlew and the Curlew Sandpiper are now on the critically endangered list. Habitat loss seems to be the crucial factor, with the most pressing concerns being the huge losses of tidal flats along the seaboards of the Yellow Sea. Best not to be complacent about Australia though. Here wetlands have historically been bulldozed for developments such as marinas, resorts and even rubbish dumps. It's been estimated that, in New South Wales, 60% of all wetlands have been destroyed or degraded in the last 200 years (http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/wetlands/ThreatsToWetlands.htm). Sydney, as Australia's largest city, has seen enormous impacts on its wetlands. Even where wetlands remain, there are issues of modification, pollution and exotic species invasion.
I will breath a slight sigh of relief and report that some wetlands remain and are being restored, while others are being created. Along The Cooks River, Cup and Saucer Creek Wetland is an example of the latter, while Landing Lights Wetland is an example of the former. Landing Lights? Well, I can't swear to it, but it's probably named after the low-flying aircraft coming in to Sydney International Airport, which is about a kilometre away across The Cooks River. An alternative name is The Riverine Park Wetlands. Rockdale council has described the site as containing some of the last remaining saline wetlands in the area, and as being potential habitat for both migratory and resident Australian waders (https://www.rockdale.nsw.gov.au/environment/Pages/Environment_LLProject.aspx).
Landing Lights Wetlands
Some days I've seen lots of waders and waterbirds here. Dozens of Black-winged Stilts and Australian White Ibises. Plenty of White-faced Herons, Royal Spoonbills, Chestnut Teal, Grey Teal and Pacific Black Ducks. I keep missing the visiting Curlew Sandpipers, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Bar-tailed Godwits (though I often see the latter not far downstream at the mouth of The Cooks River on Kyeemagh Beach). On the day I took the photos, there were no birds in the water at all, but there were ten or more Superb Fairy Wrens flitting around the scrub around the pools.
Guide to some of the birds seen (and not seen, at least by me) at the wetlands
It's really sad to read then, that this small wetland is now under threat from developers (http://savestgeorge.org.au/bartonpark/).
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