By Daryl Akers
On Saturday April 19 Eynesbury Environment Group hosted a bird walk along Little Blind Creek.
Ten people from as far as Preston, Bacchus Marsh, Sunbury and Melton enjoyed a beautiful autumn morning. Little Blind Creek is one of the most picturesque creeks in Melton, an almost hidden scenic asset in Melton. It also provides a valuable wildlife corridor through Melton.
Participants saw what appeared to be a record number of birds, 28 species, with large numbers of each, enjoying the long-extended Indian summer.
We were surprised to see a flock of pied currawongs in the vicinity of the guide hall and golf course. Their loud musical calls were at first puzzling, unfamiliar in a Melton context. These are rarely seen in Melton, although they are quite familiar in neighbouring Bacchus Marsh, Long Forest Mallee and Gisborne. The local ravens did not seem impressed with their presence.
A kookaburra was heard, but not seen. This large iconic bird, often depicted in literature with a snake in its bill, is not often seen in Melton, mainly only along Toolern Creek.
We revisited some sites revegetated by Melton Environment Group a decade or so ago. These were almost unrecognisable due to the revegetation work done!
Sadly we saw no galahs, confirming the disappearance of galahs from Melton.
Last year, Pam, a member of Melton’s bird watcher group, mentioned that galahs were becoming a rarity in Melton. Since then, this has become more and more apparent, and Pam’s observation is proving sadly prophetic. Subsequent bird surveys have confirmed that our iconic galah seems to have disappeared from Melton. Galahs were, not long ago, a common feature of Melton’s birdlife, seen widely in and around our local parks, along with flocks of corellas, mainly long-billed corellas. There are still corellas aplenty. Many thousands of them. Now, only corellas are to be seen in Melton.
Visitors from Bacchus Marsh, Eynesbury and Sunbury report that they still have large numbers of galahs. They are still common in surrounding areas such as Bacchus Marsh, Eynesbury and in our local remnant woodlands such as Pinkerton and Eynesbury forests.
Perhaps Melton is no longer to their liking.
The walk was marred by a quantity of rubbish dumped between the creek and the footpath. Melton does indeed seem to be the rubbish dumping capital of the west!
We saw 26 bird species:
White-plumed honeyeater
Red wattlebird
New Holland honeyeater
Noisy miner
Magpie
Mudlark
Pied currawong
Little raven
House sparrow
Blackbird
Mynah
Starling
Willy wagtail
Eastern rosella
Red-rumped parrot
Rainbow lorikeet
White cockatoo
Long-billed corella
Collared sparrowhawk
Hobby
Crested pigeon
Turtledove
Black duck
Kookaburra
Straw-necked Ibis
White ibis
