Mundy Creek has been a grey area on my mental map for years. I’ve been to the PCYC and looked across and thought the creek might be worth a visit; I’ve walked along the bottom end of the creek at Rowes Bay; and I know some of the Landcare people doing revegetation work along the creek; but I never joined up the dots. When it was recommended to me recently (I was told that a family member’s birdwatching colleague liked it), I thought it was finally time to investigate.
When I clicked on the map I was sent, I found Mundy Creek Natureway Garbutt had been pinned by the Landcare group. Switching to satellite view revealed a surprisingly extensive network of wild spaces between Bundock St, Garbutt, the airport and Rowes Bay beach.
Landcare call it “part of the greater Town Common” and that’s fair: it’s all low-lying and it was all wetland until parts of it were drained for the cemetery, housing, the airport, and the juvenile detention centre. Mundy Creek runs along the Eastern side of it, and its tributaries (some artificial) drain the rest of it; click on the screenshot above to go to Google Maps and explore.
Wetlands mean birds, and the weather just now is so beautiful that it’s a crime to stay indoors, so …
Dearness Street to Old Common Road
… I crossed the creek at Dearness St at mid-afternoon last Thursday and walked down the path to Old Common Rd and back.
I saw brolgas flying overhead within minutes of my arrival. There were Peaceful Doves and Double-barred Finches in the grass, honeyeaters in the trees planted by Landcare, and half a dozen species of water birds in the big pond near Old Common Road. There weren’t many insects, because it has been too cool and dry for them recently, but there would be plenty at other times of year.
This is the only bird we’re not sure about. It’s a bit smaller than a Brown Honeyeater and the consensus of my bird-minded friends is that it’s a Rufous-throated Honeyeater, which makes it a rare sighting.
I didn’t stay quite late enough for the sunset, although it could have been spectacular, but the grassland was very pretty at dusk.
I will be back, of course, soon and often.