U3A Writing: Kimberley Wildlife
David Row fell in love with the rugged beauty and wildlife in the remoter parts of Australia while working on a project to bring eye care to people living in the outback. Here he gives an account of his experiences as a volunteer, working with scientists on research expiditions, including one to a bay which is one of the world's top three bird migration areas.
Having been part of the eye care programme for the Kimberley region of Western Australia I had fallen in love with the rugged beauty, and the wild life. So when the Department of Conservation and Land Management “CALM” invited paying volunteers to join their scientists on research expeditions, as bird watching had always been a hobby, I applied for a bird counting expedition to Lake Gregory located
300km south of Halls Creek.
The lake was many times its normal size due to flood waters from Sturt Creek, extending 75km by 45km. This attracted a multitude of
water birds to feed and some to breed.
We were a party of fifteen, including a number of CALM scientists and technical officers.Two of these were to be flown over the lake at slow speed and low altitude, counting and recording the flocks of birds. The rest of us were on three boats counting shore birds, and nesting sites. We were also taking samples of the water, and underwater grasses, which would later be analysed in the CALM laboratories.
It took us two days to drive there, and we camped by the lake for six days, before the long drive back. However all the volunteers were
given a flight over the lake.
The recordings showed there were 160,000 birds, covering 96 species.
The camp life was great fun with many early morning walks
recording bush birds, and many hours round the camp fire , with lively discussion.
During the next ten years my wife and I have been on three expeditions. two of them by boat up the coast line visiting islands covered with nesting sea birds, and into inlets where the tides can be fifteen metres, recording plant life. One trip was to the Montebello islands, where the atomic bomb trials were held in 1956.
The islands were left unvisited for many years, but when CALM sent scientists to investigate the main island they found some feral cats and rats had survived. These were removed, and endangered species from the mainland were being introduced, We did some trapping and tagging to see how the animals were surviving, and released some more marsupial mice.
The islands had only sparse vegetation. On one we found four Ospreys' nests, and the shells on the beaches are various and numerous , because nobody goes there.
Two year ago I joined a group, who were assisting some marine biologists who were researching the Benthos of Roebuck Bay, near Broome. Benthos is a term which covers the minute shell and insect life that lives in the mud flats. They attract millions
of wader birds to congregate and feed before they migrate to Siberia to breed each spring, and return in autumn to feed and rest before spreading out all over Australia.
Roebuck Bay is over 20km across, and the tide goes out more than 10km
The northwest corner, most highly favoured by birds, had been sampled the previous year and now we were to tackle the rest. There were 11 scientists who would do the laboratory work, and 40 volunteers and CALM staff who who collect the samples.
We had a boat and three hovercraft, which were on loan. These would take the samplers to the low tide point and drop us off 400m apart, we would then in groups of three move forward 400m take a GPS reading and a core sample of mud which was filtered, and the residue placed in a sample bag and numbered from the GPS.
We would do this every 400m until we reached the mangroves, or the tide caught up with us, when the hovercraft would collect us and take us back to the Broome Bird Observartory, where we could wash the thick mud off and have a meal.
The hours we kept were governed by the tides. After our meal we would sort our sample bags out, retaining anything living, or the shells, then pass them on to the scientists, who were armed with microscopes, and would name all the specimens.
The scientists were an international group with a majority from Holland, and their government was funding the work.
One day I was asked to go with a leading ornithologist to record his location while he made bird counts from a pattern of positions.
The bird knowledge of this man was amazing, and I had a fascinating day.
Another day he took all the volunteers out to a variety of sights to see some of the more rare birds in the area.. On the final day one of Dutch marine biologists took the volunteers on a walk over the mud flats, and found an amazing range of sea life, such as octopus, shell fish,crabs, and other species.
When we returned home a report of the findings followed. Over 200 different aquatic life were found. In some of the northern mud flats 165 different species were found in the average sample, but in areas we covered the count was much lower. This would account for the higher density of wader birds feeding on the Northern mud flats.
This work is most important, as this bay is one of the top three
migration sights in the world, and it is located very close to the popular tourist town of Broome, and developers could spoil a world heritage area.
I found the work very interesting, but wading in mud for four hours at a time was tiring, and one day I had to be rescued from sinking in some quick sands. Fortunately the hovercraft was nearby.
Another bonus is the interesting people, who volunteer for these expeditions. I could certainly recomend Landscope excursions , especially the older persons who would like to feel they are making a contribution to environmental science.
