New Signs at Jawbone Reserve
Back in March, when the first Covid signs were going up in shops and cafés around town, some more agreeable signs were being installed along the walkway of Jawbone Reserve. The two signs, commissioned by the Conservation team at Hobsons Bay City Council, celebrate our local birds.
The walk is a favourite of its creator Rob Mancini, a volunteer with the Wetlands Centre. “This part of Jawbone is a great place to see a range of bird species, many at close proximity” he says. “The boardwalk allows you to enter the special and fragile saltmarsh habitat in an easy, non-destructive way.”
The signs feature some of the more common birds of the over 160 species recorded in the area. “When Ranger Andrew Webster and I were installing the signs,” recalls Rob, “a Great Egret, a bird featured prominently on that sign, cruised low just above our heads as if in approval.”
The location of one of the signs proved particularly pertinent. “A few days later when I dropped by to see if all was well,” says Rob, “I saw an Australasian Darter perched close by, assuming an identical pose to the one on the sign.”
Even if you haven’t met Rob - (and many of you have) - you’ll be familiar with his graphic design work for the wetlands centre. He’s a local who began his serious birding a little further west at the Cheetham Wetlands, back when it was still an operating saltworks. “It was here I got to discover the amazing, mysterious and magical summer visitors,” he says: “the migratory waders,” birds like the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, which is profiled one of the signs. While their numbers are down, and getting lower every year, some of these long-distance travellers can still be seen regularly around the wetlands of Hobsons Bay. Greenshanks and Bar-tailed Godwits, for instance, have overwintered this year, and bird forums went crazy in June when a Grey Plover was observed around the mouth of Kororoit Creek.
Rob’s connection to Jawbone goes back decades to when he conducted bird counts for Friends’ groups, long before any housing had been built. “I don’t consider myself an intense birder or twitcher,” he says, “and while I’m always pleased to see a new species, I enjoy being fortunate enough to see many of the more common species found here.”
On one occasion at Jawbone with a friend from Queensland Parks, while discussing raptors, “almost on cue,” he says, “a Brown Falcon appeared from nowhere and whacked a Starling as it lifted from the glasswort vegetation.”
That’s why nature is so compelling. One trip to Jawbone will never be the same as another. It is a world of bloodshed and beauty, and we are fortunate to be passive observers.
You can see more of Rob’s design work on his website, and his art on Instagram and Facebook.