Recently, our younger grandson, Joey, was keen to show me the results of a primary school research project which he had done, which focussed on the “Australian Darter”. In fact, it was so well done that it inspired me to do some further reading about this bird.
Given that Joey was in year 4 of Primary School at the time of working on this project, I was impressed by what he had been able to find out and by how he had summarised his findings in a beautiful Power Point presentation, complete with photos.
The Australian Darter is an amazing bird. Joey explained to me that it is known for its very long neck and its sharp beak and that it is found in freshwater and in brackish wetlands. It can dive into the water and swim under the surface to catch fish. “When it’s flying it spreads its wings and extends its neck, making it look like a cross from below.” Joey’s presentation contained much information which was unknown to me, so I asked him if I could use some of his findings for this blog post and he graciously agreed that I could.
As the photo shows, the Darter is a large bird, with a long, “snake-like” neck. Hence, it is also known as “Snake-bird”. Other names for it are “Diver”, “Shag” and “Needle-beak shag”. Intriguingly, it has also been identified by some as the “New Holland devil-bird”, and as the ”New Holland darter”. The addition of the words “New Holland” probably means that early Dutch sailors had seen the darters when they first arrived here. Abel Tasman had referred to Australia’s western and northern coasts as New Holland, back in 1644. Once Captain Cook (who had followed more than 100 years later) had claimed the eastern coast of Australia for Great Britain, the name “New Holland” (to describe the continent) was no longer used.
When I’m researching a story, it never takes me long to get side-tracked, and this happened once again when I was trying to discover why the Australian Darter was known as a “devil-bird”. Although I was unable to find out why the notion of “devil” applied to our Darter, I did come across several “devil” references for other birds. The common Koel was referred to as a “devil” bird by one writer because of its “satanic associations”, due to it having “an eerie call”. However, the Koel is a large cuckoo and does not look like a darter at all. Another strange story I found was about the “Talking Devil-Bird of Millville”, a huge talking bird which attacked a man and then flew away “by inflating itself like a balloon”. I agree that this may be a devilish story, but it sounds rather weird to me, and it is not at all relevant to Joey’s story.
The Australian Darter is found in Australia, Indonesia and Papua-New guinea. Joey and his father have seen it on several occasions in Scarborough, north of Brisbane, where this photo was taken. Thankfully, this darter does not appear to be an endangered species. Maybe this is because it is not a fussy eater, enjoying a wide variety of fish, such as bream, as well as shrimps, worms, insects, flies and moths.
Joey was 10 years old when he did the required research for this school project. I’m not surprised that he put his heart and soul into this as he is inquisitive and interested in the world around him. He and Willem, his brother, and Evie, his sister, love to explore and to go visiting the wetlands nearby, with Mike, their father. There is so much for them to see and discover.
Across the road from our house is a park and in the middle of the park is Dowse lagoon, one of three lagoons in Sandgate. It’s possible to walk right around it in about 20 minutes. I do this often when Pippi, the children’s lovable Cavoodle, is staying with us. However, it usually takes me longer, because I tend to stop at one or more of the lookout decks to observe the birds, which have made this lagoon, and the small island within it, their home.
According to the signs displayed near the lookouts there, the lagoon is used by over 200 species of local and migratory birds. It was named a Ramsar site in 1993. Under the UNESCO’s Ramsar Convention (which is also known as the Convention on Wetlands), the lagoon is designated as a site to be conserved, as a “waterfowl habitat” (see post 5 – “Dowse Lagoon”).
There are two other lagoons nearby, Einbunpin Lagoon and Third Lagoon, which is also known as Bungwald (or Bungwahl?) Lagoon. All three form part of the coastal wetlands but are not, I’m led to believe, connected to the sea or to each other. In the lagoons live many turtles, as well as eel and other fish (see post 30 – “Einbunpin Lagoon”).
Many different freshwater birds and sea birds can be seen and heard by those of us who live in or near the Sandgate area. On our walks to the Shorncliffe Pier in the morning, my walking friends and I almost always meet brush turkeys, which are native Australian birds, also known as scrub turkeys or bush turkeys. When our friend Vivek whistles, they come running towards him. He has demonstrated that he can give an exact imitation of the sounds of different birds and, amazingly, they almost always respond to him.
Tens of thousands of migratory shorebirds visit the Bay. The ones that we see between November and March are said to have come from as far away as Siberia. Moreton Island, which is visible in the distance, is known as a feeding and roosting site for shorebirds, and, as there are several large freshwater lakes on the island, it is also a haven for many freshwater bird species. When we visited the island with our Probus Club we saw many pelicans next to the jetty. The staff of the resort there apparently feed them each morning. They also feed the Kookaburras who visit the resort (see post 75. “Tangalooma Jet”).
Talking about Kookaburras, we have one living in the trees in our garden and in the park across the road. He (or is it she?) sometimes sits on the railing of our back veranda, looking at us. A beautiful bird (see post 88).
Birds are everywhere here in the Moreton Bay area. Joey is right to want to learn more about them and he and his family are lucky to be able to observe them in their habitat. And we, all of us, are fortunate to sense their presence all around us.
O.P.
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