Rare birds seen at school

A pair of rare bush stone-curlews has been photographed at the Umina campus of Brisbane Water Secondary College, just metres from the bush site approved for a retirement village development.

It is believed to be the first pair that has been photographed in this vicinity in recent years.

Unofficial reports indicate only seven of these birds were recorded in the annual Gosford Council survey of the Brisbane Water area, conducted on May 2.

One of these survey records was at the Everglades Golf Course.

Initially at the side of the oval, the birds were photographed as they walked west across the oval towards the community garden.

They then flew off north across Veron Road, over the rare bushland site which council has recently approved for development of a retirement village, according to Peninsula Bushcare Forum campaigner Ms Shirley Hotchkiss.

Ms Hotchkiss said: "Before this, I'd only seen a single bird here on two occasions, once about five years ago, and again last December.

"I live nearby and have heard them call regularly here for the last few months.

"Another volunteer at the College has seen three of them here together this year.

"Three other residents were also privileged to see the pair of endangered birds last Saturday," Ms Hotchkiss said last week.

"People have been phoning me about these birds and stopping me in the street.

"They are excited about them being here, but very concerned they'll become locally extinct unless we protect their habitat."

Ms Hotchkiss said it was incredible that on the one hand Gosford Council and the Department of Environment and Climate Change have put enormous resources into preventing this bird's extinction, such as tagging and breeding programs.

"However on the other hand these same agencies have just approved a development on the rare bushland site on Veron Rd that will destroy potential habitat for this bird."

She said the Bush Stone-curlew Recovery Plan stated that public authorities must not make decisions that are inconsistent with its provisions.

"Yet the Species Impact Statement did not even consider this species as relevant, even though the same ecologist who did the SIS also recommended the security fence at the College be modified to allow access for the bush stone-curlew.

"These birds have now been recorded at the Veron Rd site and on three sides of it, the Everglades Golf Course, Burrawang Reserve and Umina Campus.

"A Council officer told councillors that the Veron Rd site was not preferred habitat for the bush stone-curlew.

"But according to the recovery plan, because most of its preferred habitat has been destroyed by development, this bird is trying to make do with what's left."

Ms Hotchkiss quoted the recovery: "In NSW, Bush Stone-curlews occur in lowland grassy woodland and open forest, much of which has been cleared for agriculture and urban development.

"Most studies of the species have been in modified environments where native vegetation exists in small, isolated remnants and introduced predators are present.

"Therefore, current habitat characteristics of the species may not reflect pre-European habitat characteristics but rather an adaptation for survival in disturbed and modified environments."

Media release, May 22 Shirley Hotchkiss, Peninsula Bushcare Forum