The Birds of Port Bouvard

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There are few places where urban development is surrounded by such a diversity of bird attracting habitats as is the case for Port Bouvard. Habitats that include long stretches of ocean beaches and reefs, dunes and heathland foreshore. There is a vast saltwater estuary with food enriched wading flats, crystal clean canals and a fast moving deep water channel. There is also a golf course with two freshwater lakes and its fairways surrounded by thick bush or scub together with many well planted parks and treed streetscapes. The Estate also includes, or adjoins some dense natural bushland and a number of protected conservation areas and reserves.

One of the objectives of the website is to document and photograph the rich variety of birdlife that these Port Bouvard habitats attract.

It is directed towards local residents, who will have varying degrees of interest in, or knowledge of, birds. It may help them to identify and learn about the birds of the Estate whether the birds be rare or common, residents, migratory or occasional visitors. In addition to being of interest to local residents it may also be of considerable interest to visitors, including those from interstate or overseas. However, for both visitors and locals who have a wider interest in birds, a photographic record of other birds in specific locations of the diverse Peel region are now being added.

An equally important purpose of the website is to record, now, the range of species, and their numerical strength, in order to determine how they survive or flourish over time as the vegetation of the estate grows, but also as pressures increase on the land, wetlands and waterways. Cumulative records may also help us to gain important information about the migratory, or visiting, patterns of particular species. Such records may also contribute to the long-term assessment of the impact of the channel on the bird life.

It is also hoped that these records will provide detailed information that could be cross referenced against very localised vegetation and land use patterns. Such information may augment the excellent work being done by local and national ornithological associations.

Finally it is hoped that the photographs and information of this website will contribute to increasing the awareness, of residents and visitors, of the remarkable enviromental asset we have on our doorstep, and encourage them to value and protect, in particular, the world recognised Peel-Harvey Estuary and Wetlands.

Identification of the Birds

This website provides both a common name alpabetical list, and a group listing by type of bird of those birds clearly identified on the estate. It also provides a description of the birds, the location of their sightings, dates of sightings etc. together with the beginnings of a photographic record. It is not the intention of this website to provide 'scientific' information on the birds, such as their Australian-wide distribution, their breeding habits etc. If this website stimulates interest to learn more about the birds, then there are numerous websites that provide additional information on Australian birds. I have listed the field guides and references I used to identify the birds on this page.

Photographic record

In 2006, I commenced taking photographs of birds to help with identification. This has proved extremely valuable as some of the migratory wading birds are difficult to differentiate, even with binoculars.

There are a number of reasons why I have included multiple photos of many of the birds. The main reason is to assist with identification. However for some species I have provided additional photos to demonstrate the differences attributed to gender (particularly where the male and female have very little resemblance and can be confused as different birds.) Similarly, during the breeding season some birds can change colour dramatically, whilst others can change plumage. Immature birds in some species can closely resemble mature birds of other species.

In some instances I have also included photos of the same species but in different locations of Port Bouvard and the Peel region. This has been done to demonstrate the preferred habitats of some species, particularly the migratory birds. For example, to provide evidence that some species can be found both on exposed ocean reefs and beaches as well as protected tidal estuary flats. It has also allowed me to demonstrate birds located in previously unrecorded locations. For example, I have photographed both migratory and resident wading birds in some recently man-made environments such as freshwater lakes and saltwater lagoons.

The photographs vary greatly in quality. The primary purpose of the photographs are to help residents and visitors identify the birds. However if this was the only purpose I could have taken better quality photographs of some species from elsewhere where they are numerous, and more easily photographed. I have in fact included some photographs from outside of the Port Bouvard precincts, but have done so only where I have not yet been able to obtain a suitable photo from within the estate. In these cases, the location of the photo has been acknowledged. The secondary purpose was to establish an authentic, dated, photographic record of birds confirming their location within the Port Bouvard precincts.

As a consequence some of the photographs are sufficient only for experieced, keen observers to identify the birds. Fortuneately these are only very few, and it is intended over time to continue to improve the quality of the photographs.

Camera

Prior to April 2009 I was using a digital camera, the Olympus C760UZ, which features 10x optical magnification. From then I have upgraded to the Olympus SP565UZ, which has 20x optical magnification.