Birds on New South Wale’s south coast seem to have recovered in some areas after the Currowan bush fire. The birds below were all photographed in a coastal village garden where numbers felt more like pre-fire levels. But a walk up on the escarpment to Mount Bushwalker was a stark reminder ot the devastation wreaked by that fire, with vast areas of dead Banksias and their replacements still only knee-high.
Seals and their habits
A group of seals is seen regularly around Red Head peninsula on the New South Wales South Coast - most often drifting near the rocks with their fins erect to adjust body temperature. Recently, and for the first time, I saw several seals basking on the rocks, and also some signs that they may have been feeding on seabirds.
The Cuckoos Arrive
We heard the first Koel calling in our area of Sydney about two weeks ago and since then a number of cuckoos have arrived. At Bendalong on the NSW South Coast there have been several Channel-billed Cuckoos, as well as Common Koels. A first Fan-tailed Cuckoo was sighted nearby. On the Bendalong headland there was a group of around six cuckoos squabbling and calling; from fleeting glimpses, the trilling and chorus of descending calls they were identified as Shining Bronze-Cuckoos. The very poor picture below appeared to confirm this identification.
More "Bush Birds" in South Coast, NSW township
My garden bird species list in the coastal township of Bendalong is still growing as birds adapt to changes due to the Currowan Bushfire and the heavy rains that have followed.
Bushfire devastation made worse
The need to protect trees remaining after the Currowan bushfire seems obvious. However for some the bushfire has given reason to cut down more trees.
On returning after the NSW lockdown to two survey sites in Conjola National Park I was dismayed at the first to find a large shelterbelt had gone and that the roadside treeline had been cut back a further ten to twenty metres from the road. This occurred some time between June 2021 and October 2021, during the lockdown period - over a year and a half after the fires!
At the second site on nearby Nerringillah Road the trees had again been cleared a further ten to twenty metres from the road. In addition there has been extensive clearance of trees along the Bendalong road, for approximately two kilometres the bush has been cleared 10 to 20 metres back from the road.
On enquiry it seems that this clearance is legal. There are a number of regulations that might have allowed removal of these trees. Electricity companies have powerful “rights” to clear land where there are above-ground powerlines. Under the Electricity Supply Act 1995 and even the the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, they have an absolute power to remove trees.
Then in August this year the NSW government introduced new rules that allow landowners to clear rural land within 25 metres of their boundary with very few restrictions; the Rural Boundary Clearing Code under the Rural Fires Act 1997. If the land has not been previously protected there is little requirement to consider environmental impact and no need to offset the loss of vegetation.
The reason for this clearing is likely to be given as “ bush fire risk management” but it seems highly unlikely that these clearances would have protected anything or in any way changed the course of the devastating Currowan fire last year.
I started monitoring these survey sites after the fires, to get an idea of bird numbers in the central area of Conjola National Park. At that time the park was still closed so road-side sites were the only way you could do this.
There are not a lot of birds in this area, at least this has been the case during the surveys I have done since the fires. The most recent survey, conducted after tree removal, counted eight and seven total birds on the sites respectively in a 20 minute count. It will be difficult to see if the removal of trees has any effect on bird numbers in this small area. Nevertheless clearances like this are part of the insidious decline in habitat, responsible for the decline of bird species generally.
Beach-side survey sites
A bird survey by the sea last week had some unexpected visitors. A group of Australian Fur Seals basking close to the rocks and then Humpback Whales on their trip north.
NSW South Coast Bush Shows Green Shoots
Ten weeks after the bush fire there are green shoots to soften the bleak colours of the burnt bush. The heavy rain of the past few weeks has been very timely but a lot questions remain about the fire’s impact on wildlife. Bird species numbers on the bush survey sites I monitor are not showing any increase since the fires. But this week a flock of Thornbills feeding in the fresh green foliage increased the total number of birds counted.
There do seem to be more birds around the townships and some less common birds have taken up residence. The photos below show some of the newcomers.
NSW South Coast Birds after the Bush Fires
The trepidation of our trip down the Princes Highway from Nowra was relieved to some extent by green patches along the burnt out roadside. Then turning onto the Bendalong road this devastating scene; these barren and charred remains.
The seaside towns of Bendalong and Manyana are intact despite being burnt on all sides, a tribute to the firies. Even the bush along the Bendalong beach-front has been burnt out. The dawn chorus was subdued, a pair of Magpie-larks and then a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo’s screeching. The numbers of town birds are well down; ones or twos where previously there had been a dozen.
The two Birdata Survey sites I set up in 2017 were burnt so I wanted to see how bird numbers had changed. On the “Path” site survey I found it a relief to hear a lone Little Wattlebird calling, later to be joined by two Lewin’s Honeyeaters and then some Striated Thornbills. On the “Bush Track” it was fifteen minutes before the first birds arrived; two Eastern Yellow Robins and then a Rufous Whistler.
The two sites were already badly affected by drought and bird numbers dropped off during 2019, as seen from the survey results below. The birds are going to need all the help they can get to recover from this double whammy to bird life.