Sherbrooke Forest lyrebirds face danger in Dandenong Ranges National Park face dangers
With the 1000 Steps and Warburton’s Redwood Forest closed to hordes of visitors, people are now descending on Sherbrooke Forest and putting a rare Victorian bird in danger.
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Photographers and social media glory hounds are smashing through foliage in the Dandenong Ranges National Park and disturbing the rare lyrebirds during mating season.
Researches have labelled them “selfish” and were worried the intrusion would significantly impact the native bird’s numbers in Sherbrooke Forest.
According to members of the Sherbrooke Lyrebird Research Group people have been going off the track to hunt down the wildlife and search for nests — even cutting away ferns in their hunt — and posting their find with a GPS location on social media.
In a Facebook post the group, which had been monitoring lyrebirds for 62 years, pleaded with the community to stop tracking the birds in the forest to get photos of the male’s performing their mating display on the mounds.
“Some visitors have been seen tracking birds off the track, looking for nests, visiting a nest, even cutting back vegetation on male display mounds to enhance their photos,” the post said.
“Please ask people not to publicise specific locations of birds or of nests if they are known.”
The group’s secretary, Jan Incoll, said there had been an influx of visitors to the forest after the closure of other popular areas including the nearby 1000 Steps.
Ms Incoll said a photographer had recently tracked down a nest and posted a photo and the GPS location on social media for other people to find.
Ms Incoll said female lyrebirds lay only one egg a year and abandon their nest if they feel threatened.
“It’s not ethical,” she said.
“They’re supposed to be wild and not for someone’s photography project.
“We don’t want them to become endangered.”
She said cars, cats, and foxes were the biggest threat to lyrebirds but now they were being invaded by people going off tracks in the forest.
“It’s selfish behaviour,” Ms Incoll said.
A Parks Victoria spokeswoman said the park rangers were aware of community concerns about the protection of the lyrebirds and were monitoring the situation with regular patrols.
“Visitors are asked to remain on the formal track network to help ensure the protection and preservation of these unique native birds, and to avoid disturbing surrounding wildlife and vegetation,” she said.
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