Janelle Pugh and her family manage the Coolabah Crocodile Farm
on the Victoria River where Annemarie has had some of her study
sites. Janelle has followed the project with interest, and the
management plan that aims to protect the bird may also help with
her own business.
While the business breeds crocodiles, many of the eggs are taken
from the wild, so any land degradation, especially the presence of
weeds, all impact on the health of the nesting.
“The crocs have their favourite grasses—composting
them into the nesting material—so if there are lots of weeds
they’ll tend to use more mud, so incubation is not as
effective,” explained Janelle.
Janelle has already begun maintaining an area for the birds by
fencing the one-kilometre area of river frontage on the
property, some of the funding for which has come through the
Victoria River District Conservation Association.
Janelle also has been working to eradicate weeds in the
area—no small task considering that the two floods in the
region this year have brought the weeds back stronger than
ever.
“We’re not planning on having a lot of cattle on our
block, so it was probably easier to maintain an area for the birds
here,” she said.
The fencing keeps out the family’s pet buffalo and five
horses; along with wallabies and neighbouring cattle.
“The cattle can make huge tracks through there and weeds
can overtake the area. There’s a lot of wallabies running
through the grass and destroying it—the wallabies come in
after something else has made the tracks through the
grass.”
Janelle’s farm was open to the public at one stage, and
many of the tourists were bird watchers.
“We’re very aware of what’s around us all the
time and we have lots of birds—especially a lot of the small
birds, such as finches.”
“It’s been fascinating; I was quite interested to
see what she was doing—it made us more aware of what things
to look for when we were in the bird’s habitat.”
