Galahs In V8s Leave Bird Lovers With Ruffled Feathers

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday September 30, 2008

The decision to bring V8 street racing to Homebush Bay is wrong and unfair. The V8 crowd has been lobbying for it because the venue is "under-utilised". For them maybe, but what about everyone else?

Even if no one went to Sydney Olympic Park, it is used by birds and animals whose habitat it is. The wetlands, mangroves and bushland left there are a jewel in Sydney's crown.

There are birds at Homebush Bay that you cannot see anywhere else in Sydney. For migratory waders that come from Siberia, the Arctic, Asia and North America each summer, this is where they come to as they fly 26,000 kilometres across the world. There is no choice for them to move to Eastern Creek.

There are only five or six white-fronted chats left in Sydney, and they are hanging on at Olympic Park. The white-bellied sea eagle is also nesting there, one of only two known Sydney locations.

It is ridiculous that greedy corporations and TV executives, who think Homebush Bay would make a nice backdrop, always get their way. Most have no concept of the damage they are doing, nor of the environment they are encroaching upon.

If you want real speed, you can see the fastest bird in the world, the peregrine falcon, flying around the Brick Pit at more than 220 kmh (but you'd be lucky to see more than one).

There are plenty of local beauties - red-rumped parrots, spotted pardalotes, red-necked avocets, but other birds that years ago were always around are now rarely seen. Where are the pink-eared ducks, bitterns and monarchs?

And some of the greatest singers in the world are now seldom seen or heard. Very few golden whistlers, white-winged trillers, robins, honeyeaters or flycatchers.

There are more than 180 species of birds recorded in Homebush and Olympic Park. That sounds good, but about 150 are counted in numbers less than 10, once or twice a year.

Come and look at the birds. But the way things are going, not for long.

Tony Peri Naremburn

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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