As Australia’s society continues to grow and expand, more examples are surfacing, showing how we can successfully coexist with our wildlife — if only we give it a chance.
Though peak breeding season is behind us, with most of our natives opting to reproduce in spring to coincide with the warmer weather after winter, there are still many animals nurturing their young in January.
This week, a Queensland-based wildlife enthusiast shared how by simply placing a group of traffic cones around a pair of nesting bush-stone curlews, we can “secure” their young and continue to go about our lives without disrupting the birds.
“Our resident Curlew aka ‘Scoota’ is about to become a mummy of two,” the wildlife advocate, based on the Sunshine Coast, wrote online. “We arrived at work on Tuesday and she had laid an egg, by [the] afternoon there were two. “After advice … we have secured her nesting area. Expected due date 14/01/25 — can’t wait.”
Pictures show the protective mother watching over her two eggs, with orange cones placed around them to safeguard them from intruders. Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, ANU’s Shoshana Rapley explained how bush-stone curlews in particular are significantly impacted by habitat loss and from the threat of introduced species.
A Sunshine Coast local simply opted to place a few orange cones around a pair of curlew eggs, showing how we can live harmoniously with our natives if we try. Source: Facebook/Scooters and Mobility Sunshine Coast
People are wildlife can coexist, if we let it
Rapley, who is doing her PhD on curlews, said for this reason, it’s all the more important we preserve as many of the birds as we can, especially due to the fact they are now endangered in NSW and Victoria.
“Losses in NSW and Victoria happened over the last two centuries, due to widespread habitat destruction and the abundance of introduced red foxes,” Rapley told Yahoo.
“Contemporary losses in Queensland are largely due to factors related to urbanisation: loss of parkland habitat, increased traffic and resultant vehicle strikes, mortality and stress from domestic animals, and increased numbers of red foxes.
It might seem like a terrible spot to nest, but one wildlife enthusiast argued it’s actually pretty safe, if we leave the birds alone. Source: Facebook/Wil & Mel’s Wild-Life
“Also, the bush stone-curlew population in Brisbane is supported heavily by populations on the Moreton Bay islands, which have been impacted by bushfires.”
Rapley said wildlife carers are “inundated with curlew chicks” that “should have been left in the wild” but were taken by Aussies who thought they needed rescuing. “People with “good intentions are taking healthy chicks out of home territory because they assume them to be unwell as their natural response to danger is to lie very still,” she said.
But actually, bush-stone curlews are ground-dwelling birds, meaning if you see one down on land instead of up in a tree, they’re actually right where they’re supposed to be.
Bush-stone curlews out and about in Queensland
On Saturday, a wildlife enthusiast shared his surprise at finding a nesting native bird had laid its eggs merely 30 centimetres from a “regularly used railway” — saying he “can’t decide” whether it’s “one of the worst spots ever or one of the best”.
Queenslander Wil Kemp found a bush-stone curlew and its nest near a set of train tracks in Cairns earlier this week. Speaking to Yahoo, Kemp said because “trains never swerve”, coupled with the fact that predators don’t inhabit the area, he thought the eggs are actually in a pretty safe spot.
Mum and dad weren’t far behind from the eggs found in Cairns last week. Source: Facebook/Wil & Mel’s Wild-Life
Kemp said the peculiar find highlights the fact that “we can live with wildlife to the best of our ability”, all we need to do “is slightly tweak our behaviour”.
“We just need to change our attitudes a little bit,” he told Yahoo. “In this particular instance, it wasn’t much. We just had to locate where the nest was, we put the witches [hats] out there, and we’ll just keep an eye on them now.”
Love Australia’s weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week’s best stories.