Oystercatcher Diary - 2015 Day 2.2

Had to do some maintenance this morning on our temporary fencing. Fortunately council has come through and we should be getting some more posts tomorrow for Jo and I to finish the fencing so it doesn't keep falling down because of the lack of supports.

Civic Copying at Sutherland came through for us and did some quick printing for temporary signs we'll string along support lines telling people to keep out and keep to beach side. Council will be giving us some more permanent ones, our quick print laminated ones don't last very long because of wind and rain and it is anticipated we'll be getting plenty of that over the next week, particularly Tuesday and Wednesday.

We'll also put some signs in the facilities at Bonnie Vale advising people where it is best to walk and to try and stay away from the perimeter lines.

We still only have one egg in the nest but birds spent 45 minutes off nest, between rain and while temperatures were still warm, but not sunny, being very amorous. Seems that the parents spend more time on nest when there are two eggs rather than the one. Once it started raining however, the parents made sure the egg was not left to the elements.

Thank you Geetha and Deniz for volunteering for Saturday. Fortunately for volunteers the nesting site is quite close to Bonnie Vale now so if you park near Bundeena Kayaks it is a very short walk. Before you come, please ring me as I will have done an assessment of weather, how full campground is, general other traffic as to whether you need to come. Weather predicted to be warmish but cloudy so may keep crowds away.

Am surprised though at how many people, particularly families, are there mid week at the moment. The ones I have met have been Kiwis and quite supportive of the Oystercatchers as they have them back home and know they are declining there too.

John Perkins of Durras also sent me some of the new brochures they have for beach nesting birds that we can hand out to interested people.

Thanks also to Geetha for mentioning that human hair has been shown to keep foxes away. A fox trapper at Durras confirmed that this can work sometimes so am looking at ways to source from hairdressers hair that they would normally throw away. Worth a try.

So this first week of nesting is looking like what last time's first week was, iffy weather that keeps the crowds away. Can only hope.