Bird hide helps conserve cryptic visitor

A NEW bird hide at Ross Creek is playing a key role in efforts to conserve a threatened species, with locals invited to participate in a monitoring project this Saturday 17 January.

Funding support from the Community Bank Buninyong covered material costs, enabling the hide to be built last year by volunteers including members of the Ross Creek Landcare Group and a team of corporate volunteers from the bank.

The new hide has been built on land adjacent to Woady Yaloak Primary School’s Ross Creek Campus and provides a prime vantage point to observe birds that use the nearby wetland area.

It has quickly become a valuable part of educational activities for students and is also a lasting memorial to the late Rosemary Barnett, a long-serving Landcare leader and Ross Creek champion, whose legacy lives on through the project.

For Federation University senior research fellow Dr Birgita Hansen, the hide is assisting with her ongoing research into endangered migratory species Lathams Snipe, which migrates annually from Japan and has been found to be using the local wetland area.

“We don’t know when Lathams Snipe started visiting but they were seen here in about 2013 and seem to now be coming back to Ross Creek every year. To have them visit this little site at Ross Creek is really special,” Dr Hansen said.

Dr Hansen said the snipe is an amazing little bird that flies non-stop across the Pacific Ocean to reach Australia from Japan as part of its annual migration, with research surveys of the species conducted across multiple sites in eastern Australia.

“In 2014 I started a research project on this migratory species that we get here over summer,” Dr Hansen said.

“We’re really interested in trying to fill some knowledge gaps about the species.

“We started a monitoring project back in 2014-15 which has continued, and we do three surveys each year across many sites.”

Dr Hansen said private landholders and planning authorities can help conserve this “cryptic” threatened species by becoming more aware of the critical importance of protecting remnant wetlands, crucial for the Lathams Snipe’s survival.

The snipe is officially listed as vulnerable and the Ross Creek Landcare Group has been assisting Dr Hansen with her ongoing monitoring.

This weekend they are inviting anyone keen to help out to get along to a monitoring survey taking place at 11.30am on-site. Anyone interested can contact the Landcare group on 0438 543 811 or email [email protected].