IBIS RETURN TO MUD ISLANDS
FOR the past few decades, both straw-necked and white ibis have returned to the islands in Port Phillip to raise their young, reviving an annual event that ended in the 1880s.
Mud Islands, midway between Queenscliff and Sorrento, were formed 3500 or 4000 years ago as sand and other sediments accumulated on a shallow part of the bay.
They became the habitual roosting place for local seabirds, and as the droppings and discarded food accumulated, the sand was "cemented" into a solid mass.
Some coastal vegetation began to grow and occasional storms and sea surges played their part in shaping the islands into a circular shape with a central lagoon.
It was perfect for seabirds and soon pelicans, cormorants, swans and gulls began nesting there.
The dense mass of droppings and other debris created guano.
In the 1860s, this was discovered by European settlers, who recognised it as a valuable resource as fertiliser for the local vegetable gardens.
Several shacks were built and an extensive railway established so the material could be dug, loaded onto barges and taken back to Queenscliff. The birds were shot for "sport" and the eggs taken back to Queenscliff for use in the bakeries.
Within a few years, the breeding colonies were destroyed and the birds gone.
The guano lasted just a few years, but the birds would not return to nest there for close to 100 years.
Since the 1960s when the first gulls formed a colony, others gradually returned so that by the turn of the century pelicans and ibis had a huge breeding population there.
Wildlife information and questions can be sent to ppescott@gmail.com