Duck for cover

 
With the annual state-sanctioned slaughter of wild native waterbirds, otherwise known as the Victorian Duck Hunting Season, now underway, it was pleasing to see a family of Chestnut Teal sheltering safely on our dam. For company they had an Australasian Grebe with a couple of its chicks.

 
 
The permitted game species this year are: Australian Shelduck, Australian Wood Duck, Pink-eared Duck, Grey Teal, Chestnut Teal, Pacific Black Duck, as well as, inexplicably, the Hardhead, a species that is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ in the government’s own Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna in Victoria.

As a concession to the extremely dry period we have been experiencing, bag limits have been reduced (8 birds per day on opening day and 4 per day thereafter). The Australasian Shoveler, whose conservation status is also ‘Vulnerable’, has been removed from this year’s list of game species, although some will almost inevitably be shot because of mistaken identity. The open season on ducks continues until June 13th 2016.