The Bird's Nest

The Bird's Nest is a resource for primary school teachers about birds in the Wolli Creek Valley and surrounding areas. It features laminated A3 coloured posters with teachers notes on the reverse. The posters have accompanying worksheets for students. The resource also contains a Powerpoint presentation on urban birds and the birds of the Wolli Valley.

The Bird's Nest is not designed for use online. The following is a preview of the contents to help you plan your study of Wolli birds. Read through the table of contents below (much of which links to image previews) or scroll down to see the thumbnails at the end.

Resource kits are available via info@wollicreek.org.au

Contents

1. Curriculum notes - outlining activities that meet Dept Ed outcomes through studying a theme of Birds of the Wolli Valley

Where is Wolli?
2. Wolli walkers map - to help plan a class excursion
3. Two Valley Trail Map

Aerial photos
4. Wolli Valley: aerial photo (Poster A) + teachers notes
5. Historical map of the Wolli Valley (Poster B) + teachers notes
6. Pictorial map of the Wolli Valley (Poster C) + teachers notes

Posters and Activity sheets
7. Habitat poster (Poster D) + teachers notes
8. "Birds and their habitats" activity sheet
9. Threats poster (Poster E) + teachers notes
10. "Friend or foe?" activity sheet
11. Black and white birds poster (Poster F) + teachers notes
12. "What bird is that?" activity sheet
13. Black and white birds tally sheet
14. School birds tally sheet
15. Bird beaks poster (Poster G) + teachers notes
16. Beaks activity sheet

Creative Arts
17. Masks and puppets (Teachers notes)
18. Mask Making Instructions - Simple bird masks
19. Complex bird masks (A3 template sheet)

Bird and Words
20. Birds and Words activity sheet
21. Have you seen a Corella in Turrella?

References
22. Bird weblinks
23. Aboriginal bird stories
24. Birds and Aboriginal people
25. The urban fox - flyer
26. Backyard Birds of NSW - colour poster
27. Powerpoint presentations (inside back cover)
Acknowledgements

THE BIRD'S NEST IN MINIATURE

Below is a thumbnail view of the Bird's Nest. Click on each image to enlarge.
To borrow this resource, contact info@wollicreek.org.au

WOLLI WALKERS MAP

POSTER A - WOLLI VALLEY AND SURROUNDS - AERIAL PHOTO

POSTER B - HISTORICAL MAP OF WOLLI VALLEY VEGETATION

POSTER C - PICTORIAL MAP OF THE WOLLI VALLEY - HABITAT TYPES

POSTER D - BIRDS AND THEIR HABITAT

POSTER E - THREATS TO NATIVE BIRDS

POSTER F - BLACK AND WHITE BIRDS

POSTER G - BIRD BEAKS

ACTIVITY SHEETS

HABITAT ACTIVITY SHEET

"FRIEND OR FOE?" ACTIVITY SHEET

BLACK AND WHITE BIRDS ACTIVITY SHEET

BEAKS ACTIVITY SHEET

MASKS AND PUPPETS INFORMATION SHEET

MASKS ACTIVITY SHEET

BIRDS AND WORDS ACTIVITY SHEETS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Owls in Wolli

A night fauna survey was conducted by DECC in 2007. Owls calls were played out into the Valley but no replies were heard.

Since this, however, a number of species have been observed in the Valley. The Tawny Frogmouths (not technically an owl) were the first.


On 11 April 2008 a school group paused near Wave Rock and discovered a Southern Boobook right in front of them! After excited whisperings, pointings and a few discreet photos the group moved away to discuss the importance of the find.




Even more significant was the sighting by Gavin Gatenby on 29 May 2008 of a Powerful Owl near in Girrahween Park. It was thought this species might turn up. A camp of Grey-headed flying-foxes had arrived in Wolli and been growing in numbers since June 2007. The Powerful Owl is one of the bats' few natural predators.

Variegated wrens - New Species in Valley

On the evening of 5 August 2007, Gavin Gatenby spotted what he thought was a male Variegated Fairy Wren and his troop in thick scrub near the escarpments on the Girrahween track. He reports "Luckily I had my camera with me and, braving the low-light conditions, I took a quick shot, resulting in a lousy image, but good enough to confirm the first ever sighting of the species in the Wolli Valley".

A chance conversation in Turrella Reserve, with photographer Alexander Choi, unearthed photos he'd taken of this species and excitement reached an all time high when Voren O'Brien discovered two adult males, a female and a nest of young Variegated Fairy Wrens on her nature rounds before the WCPS Committee Xmas dinner in 2007. Photos were quickly developed and circulated at the restaurant!



To an inexperienced observer the Variegated Fairy Wren (Malurus lamberti) might understandably be mistaken for the well-known “Blue Wren” (officially known as Superb Blue Wren) but it’s difficult to see how its presence could have escaped the notice of such an experienced birdwatcher as the late Neil Rankin who meticulously recorded the valley’s birdlife until his death in 2001. These are not the sort of birds that can suddenly migrate into the area from many kilometers away, so we can only conclude that a small remnant population has been present, all along, in the nearby Bardwell Valley, from which they have now recolonised Wolli.

Here the female carries food to her young. The nestlings are concealed in a domed, grass nest with a side entrance very close to the ground.




A sad postscript to this story is the discovery, the very next day, that the nest was empty apart from some large black ants. It's impossible to say what predator is to blame. Snakes are major nest predators of Fairy Wrens and large birds such as Currawongs will take eggs or nestlings of smaller birds. And perhaps it is no coincidence that only two weeks earlier a fox was spotted mere meters from this very nest.



But the species seems to be fairly resilient. A family group has been spotted on the Girrahween Track near Cormorants Corner and while the female will not reuse her original nest it is
hoped that she will build elsewhere and attempt a second brood.

Postscript: In July 2008 a male Variegated Wren was observed in Jackson's Quarry.