ABUNDANCE OF BIRD LIFE AT MOOLAP
WITH the loss of coastal wetlands worldwide a major conservation problem, it is good to see some local areas are to be given stronger protection.
Many of the Western Port Phillip wetlands are to be added to areas protected under the international Ramsar Convention.
Among these is the Moolap/Point Henry complex, one of our most important places for birdlife.
The Moolap saltworks have been a favourite site for birdwatchers from the early 1900s to the present.
Banded stilts gather to feed on the abundance of saline invertebrates before vanishing when nesting conditions arrive at inland lakes.
Another bird that always creates interest is the lovely red-necked avocet. One of just three avocet species worldwide, it has a long, slender up-curved beak that sets it apart from most other birds.
Red-necked avocets feed on aquatic invertebrates, which they find by sweeping their beaks from side to side through the water.
They often nest on low islets in the wetlands, where they have a clear view of anyone approaching.
If disturbed, they move quickly away before taking flight.
Sadly this doesn’t help avoid predation of the eggs by foxes, which they will attack in defence of their nest. The young hatch after about four weeks’ incubation and move away from the nest when just a day or two old.
In summer, the saltworks attract thousands of migratory shorebirds from their breeding areas in northern Eurasia.
Occasionally, there are unusual visitors among the sandpipers and stints. One of these accidental visitors some years ago was a lesser yellowlegs, an American species that simply lost its way on migration.
The list of species seen here, and the huge numbers often recorded, make it a site of national significance, and must be protected as such.