Masked lapwings the early birds

The first birds to jump out of the barriers and fill a nest on Deeban Spit are the masked lapwings. Today saw the second egg placed in the nest. Looking at this picture you can see how much effort the birds go to in order to choose a place where their eggs will sit unnoticed.

As nesting season has started, in order to protect the eggs, we are asking people that run or walk along the Spit to stay below the high tide line on both edges of the Spit. The eggs are hidden among the grasslands on the Spit that extends from Bonnie Vale through to the right of way access at 35 Pacific Crescent. If you hear a bird screaming at you when you are out on the beach and if it then begins to dive bomb you it is trying to tell you that you are too close to the lapwing nest and it is, rather emphatically, asking you to go back closer to the water's edge, away from the nest.

The pied oystercatchers are also starting to keep an eye on their preferred nesting spot but are well behind the masked lapwings. If they think the conditions are right they will also put down a nest. Last year their preferred space was washed out twice in August so they did not even attempt to nest after that.

If the oystercatchers do put down a nest then Sutherland Shire Council will supply temporary rope lines and signage to help protect the eggs from people accidentally stepping on them.

The critically endangered eastern curlews have started arriving back from breeding grounds in the arctic. The past year has been particularly brutal for the migratory birds because the winter weather in the northern hemisphere froze their food on the refuelling tidal flats around the Yellow Sea and then the summer, when they breed, saw extreme temperatures with wildfires occurring. So far we have 12 returned, last year we had 24, so hoping they will continue to trickle in.

It is amazing the life you find on the beach. I found a shell that had recently been washed up and a lady bird beetle was snacking on the micro bugs that were snacking on the weed that was encasing it.