Werribee Wetlands Part 1

After a nice breakfast of muesli and a cup of coffee, we cue up Siri for the drive to the wetlands. The wetlands are not natural, at least not now. The entire area has been drained to make way for the city of Melbourne and its four million residents. But it is the four million residents that keep the wetlands alive today.

Historically this area was a maze of creeks, marshes, and billabongs but upon settlement most of the area was drained and paved. But as Melbourne grew into the metropolis that it is today they had to figure out what to do with the stuff that disappears when you flush the toilet. What they did is truly a model for the rest of the world to follow. They created or I should say they recreated the Werribee Wetlands.

Now I hate to put this image into your head but I read that the Werribee treatment plant receives the equivalent of two hundred Olympic size swimming pools of raw sewage every day. After it is processed the by-product is treated with water and lots of it. The water is pumped into numerous ponds, lakes, and natural looking canals. Around the ponds and lakes are levees with dirt roads and that's where we are now.

To enter into this area it is necessary to apply for a permit. To obtain the permit you must read a long list of common sense do's and dont's, such as don't drink the water and do stay on the roads. Don't pick up poisonous snakes and do shut and lock the gates. And even though I read all these online, the very nice lady at the office went over each and every one (probably about fifty of them) with me. If you promise to abide by all the rules then they give you the key to the gates of what would be, for today at least, heaven.

We entered and locked the gates behind us. Looking out over the wetlands it was pretty obvious that we were going to have a great day. And realizing that we had the entire wetlands all to ourselves was, well I've never been to heaven, but for me it has to look something like this!

In a small lake off to the right were at least a thousand Black Swans. These beautiful creatures are like the yang to our Trumpeter Swans. They are mostly black but they do have lovely red bills and large striking white bars on their underwings. Like me, most people equate Black Swans with city parks throughout Europe. But these marshes are home to these magnificent birds.

I read that they are monogamous. But more interesting is that one quarter of all family pairings are of the same gender, mostly males. So without the access to sperm banks or hiring a surrogate mother, how do they do it? Well they mate with a female just to produce a clutch of eggs. Then after she has deposited the eggs in the nest that they built for her, at least that's what she thinks, instead they chase her away and raise the young on their own. It's spring here in Australia so many of them have little white fluffy cygnets tagging along behind them. Some very interesting lines can be drawn.

Moving on we notice that a Superb Fairywren is exuberantly singing from atop some mustard flower plant. This is a bird that I have wanted to see since my early days of birding and now they are every where I go. Beside him is his special lady friend and she is mostly a mouse brown color and honestly quite drab except for the red bill, lores, and eye ring. The little touch of blue in the tale shows her restraint in contrast to that of her partner.

Surveying the marsh I notice that there are many Hoary Headed Grebes with a few Australian Grebe here and there. On a small island there are Hardheads (a type of duck). When Mim identifies them she starts belting out Cat Stevens' Hard Headed Woman. Mixed in with the Hardheads are Gray Teal, Chestnut Teal, Pied Stilts, and some Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. But the real show are the hundreds and hundreds of Whiskered Terns that are patrolling the banks of the impoundments.

Usually you find terns hunting in open water but these terns are sticking to the banks of ponds. Since getting out of the car I have noticed thousands of mayfly looking insects flying all about and I wonder if that is what they are after. Sure enough the flies are heavily concentrated close to the mustard flower plants that line the banks. The terns are hovering over the plants and dipping down in between the stems and picking off as many flies as possible before venturing on to a adjacent plant. Very interesting how birds will make use of different sources of food when given the opportunity.

   Part two coming soon . . . . . Thanks for reading!