Homebush

Homebush homebush migratory shore birds [] [] Heres a slideshow on the Wanngal wetlands found by Eliana and Gabriella

Restoration to Sydney Olymic park (homebush wetlands) By Gabriella Legal and illegal land filling operations occurred over several decades on lands that are now within Sydney Olympic Park. The majority of land filling operations were broad acre fill, and few if any environmental controls were applied. In a site-wide study conducted in 1991, boreholes were installed on a 50m grid across the site, generally to a depth of 1.6m. Soil and groundwater samples were collected for laboratory analysis to determine the locations and nature of wastes; further investigations were conducted where indicated. Approximately 160-hectares of the site was identified as containing wastes including: power station ash demolition rubble asbestos industrial hydrocarbons domestic garbage dredging material from the Parramatta River Between 1992 and 2000, the NSW Government allocated $137 million for remedial action to clean up polluted areas. Remedial action varied according to the type and location of the waste and local hydrogeological conditions. It included the recovery, consolidation and on-site containment of approximately nine million cubic metres of waste. []

Yellow Billed Spoonbill // Palatalea favipes (Family Plataleidae) // Growing up to 90cm in length, this large bird feeds on a wide variety of small aquatic animals. Sometimes called the Yellow Legged Spoonbill, they collect food by sweeping their distinctive 'spoon-shaped' bill sideways through the water. Breeding takes place from September to April, and they nest either singly or in colonies. The nest is a well-built stick construction in reeds, a bush or a tree. Up to four eggs are laid. This is not your average duck. The wood duck is often called Wisconsin's most beautiful duck with its bright, multi-colored feathers. When you're near Wisconsin's ponds, forest-edged lake, swamp or marsh, be sure to take a good gander at the waterfowl, they're not always the mallards that most of us know from city parks and beaches. Look for a slightly smaller bird with crest feathers draping off the back of the head (they might not always be showing) on both the male and female. Males have a red eye with a distinctive orange beak with a black tip; green, white and brown-streaked head with a white cheek patch. Their breast feathers are dark brown and spotted white with light brown feathers on the side and iridescent green-blue feathers on the back. The female has a camouflage pattern of brown with a white-striped pattern on the breast and a small spot of blue on the wing. They have a dark colored beak, a white throat patch, and a white tapering eye patch. Can you guess where the wood duck lives? The wood duck can be found in bottomland hardwood forests, hanging out on the branches of trees and making nests in tree cavities. The cavity is lined with soft, white downy feathers where 15 eggs are laid. Soon after hatching, the young actually jump from the tree cavity when the female calls "weep, weep, weep," and they all trek to the water together. The young are raised in open wetland areas with clumps of aquatic plants and high places like [|muskrat] lodges to dry their feathers. The wood duck is not the only water bird to nest in trees, so do hooded mergansers, goldeneyes

=**Human Impact**=

The impact that we do to the wetlands is: 1. Dump toxicated waste. 2. Drain stormwater averagely of point source pollution. 3. Fish killed, caused by non-point source pollution.

How to stop the human impact: 1. Reduce the human exposure. 2. Stop using human activities to destroy the wetlands. 3. Stop dumping toxic waste.

__ Toxicated waste __ Toxic waste is waste material that can cause death or injury to living creatures. The term is often used mutually with risky waste or abandoned material that can pose a long term risk to health or environment. __ How to stop the dumping of toxic waste __ To stop the toxic waste we should stop dumping it and reduce the toxic waste.

__How it started__
Over two hundred years of European occupation, Homebush Bay had been transformed from a wetland to a wasteland. At the beginning of the last century construction for human activities began, resulting in destruction of the natural environment especially the wetlands. Trees were cleared for agricultural uses and wetlands were destroyed by grazing sheep and cattle.

During 1910, construction of the abattoir began. This included the slaughterhouse and administration buildings. The abattoir flushed animal waste products such as blood and bone, which is high in nutrients, into Homebush Bay. This attracted sharks to the bay and also caused algal blooms. Even today excess nutrients in the sediments cause algal blooms. 

Restoration to sydney olympic park homebush by gabriella

A range of solutions to address the land degradation and contamination were assessed and employed, and other actions were taken to apply ecological sustainability principles, including: Treatment and/or containment of waste to reduce exposure to contamination Stormwater capture and water recycling to re-use and conserve resources Installation of new wetlands to reduce flood levels, provide habitat, irrigation, aesthetics, restore creek catchment function Restoration of a "natural" creek line for Haslams Creek from a concrete stormwater channel plus removal of in-channel "chokes" to manage stormwater flows, reduce flooding, provide habitat and improve aesthetics Monitoring and conservation plan development for key species or communities, including threatened frogs, migratory birds and remnant saltmarsh and woodland vegetation Green building guidelines, which considered the entire life cycle of materials, waste management and use of energy. An estimated $137 million was spent on remediation 

**Migratory Birds**
1. As migratory shorebirds fly north and then south each year they take the same route and make the same stopovers for feeding .These routes are known as 'flyways'. The Flyway that exists between the Australasian and the Asian continents is known as the East-Asian Australasian Flyway and has a combined population total of over four million birds. When these birds reach the Sydney region, they may stay for the whole summer or, after refueling, continue southwards to Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand.

1. Species of migratory shorebird recorded within the Parramatta River estuary (including Sydney Olympic Park) since 1992 are listed below. Species that most commonly occur at the Park are the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint and Bar-tailed Godwit. In recent years observed numbers from daylight surveys have been relatively low (in the order of 20 birds), but at night flocks of over 250 birds are regularly recorded, indicating that the birds rely on a matrix of habitats throughout the Parramatta river estuary.


 * 1) Migratory shorebirds are typically present at Sydney Olympic Park between September and April, migrating along the East Asian-Australian Flyway from breeding sites in China, Siberia, Alaska and the east Asian mainland, to take advantage of the productive summer months in both hemispheres.