When you first step foot on the man-made islands in Dawkins Park, the smell of bird guano stings your nostrils.
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The floor is littered with feathers, droppings and decaying birds.
And the trees are festooned with an astounding array of closely-grouped and cleverly-formed nests.
And this is after nearly three months of active controls on their breeding patterns.
Eyes boggle at the thought of the state of these two islands when up to 3000 ibis would regularly call them home.
It’s not too hard to empathise with the ibis who have colonised the islands—moated and situated in the centre of suburban Macksville, the islands are a veritable avian shangri-la.
Quick access to human refuse and protection from predatory mammals have afforded the adaptable birds a happy existence until now.
Government regulations now forbid the construction of islands in wetland development projects in order to circumvent future problems with ‘pest’ species.
While the Nambucca Shire Council decides what to do about the poorly-designed lake, two workers from EcoSure have been tasked with the job of managing the ibis population.
WATCH: A window into the world of ibis management at Dawkins Park
EcoSure have been working with ibis populations in urban areas from Rockhampton to Sydney since 1995, when a collision between a QANTAS jet and an ibis at the Gold Coast airport caused huge problems.
Trudy Thompson and Avery Keller are passionate conservationists who make sure they follow their company’s ‘best practise’ protocols when dealing with the ibis.
Once the breeding control program has finished, Trudy will consult with council to plant out the edges of the island with ibis-repelling lomandra plants.
Trudy says that ibis cannot be blamed totally for the green algae plague that covered the lake over winter.
“Fertiliser, road grease and other chemicals get washed into the lake when it rains because there is no stormwater management yet,” Trudy said.
While it may be confronting to witness ibis eggs being smashed, especially in such large quantities, the results are speaking for themselves.
A huge reduction in adult ibis numbers has been recorded since the program started in June, and natives like spoonbills and purple swamphens are starting to reclaim some of their lost territory.
But the ibis will continue to find ways to live alongside humans until issues like water diversion, urban creep and human rubbish management are addressed.