The breeding season for the Hooded Plovers has come to a close at the Point Roadknight area. Two chicks survived to fledge.
Hooded Plover and Red-necked Stint – Photography: Margaret Lacey
Both were the sole survivors from three eggs laid by the pair at Point Roadknight. They nested in two locations, a few metres apart, during spring and summer. The pair, west of the Point site, did not produce any eggs; they made a few scrapings, but nothing eventuated. There is still one chick, due to fledge in early April, at Point Impossible. Volunteers and GORCC staff are monitoring it.
Some unusual sightings reported during the past month include a Flying Fox at Torquay. The animal had apparently flown into the power lines and was electrocuted.
At Breakfast Creek, two juvenile Beautiful Firetail Finches were observed calling and foraging in the undergrowth near the creek, and an immature Rufous Fantail could be seen nearby. In the same area, a Rose Robin and an Olive-backed Oriole were recorded, and later, a Southern Emu-wren was seen on Bald Hills Road.
EcoLogic staff had an interesting experience during an excursion with students at St Leonards recently. They witnessed thousands of Spider Crabs in the Water. The dinner-?plate sized crabs were swarming, up to a metre deep, under the water at St Leonards Pier. Apparently these large crustaceans migrate into shallow water during summer moult their shells, and to mate, which could explain why they were there in such numbers.
Mike and Kaye Traynor