Responsibility to protect rare birds

Peninsula News carried an item (March 26) titled "Rare bird sighted at Umina campus".

The rare bird, a Bush Stone-curlew, is one of a threatened species and is locally endangered.

The article stated that "only about 20 breeding pairs are believed to exist on the Central Coast".

In fact, on-going monitoring suggests there are less than 20 birds in total and possibly as few as one or two breeding pairs.

Today, the Central Coast population of Bush Stone-curlew is isolated and is one of the few to be found on the entire NSW coastline.

Their range is generally restricted to inadequate pockets of saltmarsh and the low-lying foreshores of Paddy's Channel, Cockle Channel and the Kincumber Broadwater.

For the uninitiated, the Bush Stone-curlew is a fairly large ground-dwelling bird, bigger than the well-known Masked Plover but smaller than the equally well-known White Ibis.

Generally, the birds are shy and evasive, and are usually heard rather than seen.

Under normal circumstances, the life span of an adult Bush Stone-curlew can exceed 30 years.

The birds are sedentary and bonded pairs have been recorded as occupying the same territory and using the same nesting site for all of their lives.

Being nocturnal, Bush Stone-curlews roost on the ground near cover during the day and forage at night, usually in open country such as mown foreshore reserves.

Nest sites are mere scrapes on the ground, not unlike that of the Masked Plover.

As a consequence, the birds are under an increasing threat from introduced predators, particularly foxes and cats, although unleashed dogs and human activities are also having a detrimental effect.

For anyone old enough to remember, the eerie night-time calls of the Bush Stone-curlew were once familiar sounds on the Brisbane Water foreshores.

But, over the last 50 years, much of the Bush Stone-curlew's former preferred habitat has been destroyed for "development".

St Hubert's Island is an extreme example of an estuarine wetland destroyed for housing.

Adcock Park at West Gosford, Frost Reserve at Kincumber, Roger's Park and the outer playing fields at Woy Woy Oval are all former wetlands, used as rubbish tips and filled to create playing fields.

Sometimes, in our rush to make our personal environment conform to our needs, it is all too easy to ignore what we have destroyed in the process.

The future of the Bush Stone-curlew on the Central Coast, in our own backyard, is now desperate.

As a community, we have a responsibility to protect these animals from local extinction.

Alan Skinner Saratoga