Hobsons Bay Bird Populations decline in 2024

As the appointed guardian of the Cheetham and Altona Key Biodiversity Area (KBA), Hobsons Bay Wetlands Centre has produced its 2024 Health Check Report on bird populations in the area.  This report identifies changes since the 2021 Health Check Report and first records of the bird populations published in 1984.  The good news is that the total number of species has increased.  In 1984, 240 species were noted, whereas the number grew to 276 species over the last 25 years.  This can be attributed to the new species taking advantage of increased plantings in urban areas and revegetated reserves or taking advantage of more reliable habitat compared to inland areas.  For example, the creation of a new freshwater habitat in the lakes system adjacent to the Williamstown Range Estate has seen an increase in Australasian and Great Crested Grebes, Blue-billed Ducks, Dusky Moorhens, Eastern Swamphens and Eurasian Coots.

 Unfortunately, there is some bad news, in that many bird populations have declined.  These include the most numerous of the migratory shorebirds, being Red-necked Stints, Curlew Sandpipers, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Double-banded Plovers.  Common Greenshanks, Marsh Sandpipers and Pacific Golden Plovers, while never as numerous as the previous four species, have also declined. The resident shorebird species Red-capped Plover, Masked Lapwing and Black fronted Plover have declined as well.  Some species of waterfowl, seabirds and cormorants have also declined, while numbers of others remain stable.

 While it is easy to explain away the declines as due to circumstances beyond our control such as urban and industrial development along the East Asian Australasian Flyway, changes to bird habitats in the Altona region have influenced the decline in bird populations.  Some freshwater habitats have been degraded or lost in the KBA.  A major shorebird feeding area and cormorant roost at the Altona Coastal Park mudflats has been heavily disturbed by recreational use.

Incursions by people and dogs and high activity zones close to the wetlands threaten birds that rely on the area for safe refuge and undisturbed feeding and, and in some cases, breeding.

 We all have a role to play in ensuring the wetlands in the KBA provide the safest environment for birds to live alongside humans and their pets.

 Read the full report here.