photograph taken in Quairading
The Roe highway extension to Fremantle, which is proposed to cut through the Belier Wetlands, has many voices. Connect with our land is more than protesting. It is likely that construction workers also sympathise or have family and friends that sympathise with the plight of wildlife.
One of many definitions of 'dichotic" : involving or relating to simultaneous stimulation of the right and left ear by different sounds.
Using a dichotic approach, my first consideration is the effect on the birds. You can usually hear them coming. The Carnaby Cockatoos and Red-tail black cockatoos take incredible risks to cross the Kwinana Freeway to reach the Belier Wetlands. It is one of their vital feeding areas. I once sat in my car on the slow moving, congested freeway during road-works, watching as a group of between 20 and thirty of the birds hesitated for a second, then flew over me in a tight group at a height of only 2 meters. They would have been scared. There was a line of a few hundred trucks and cars. They never made a sound.
The Roe highway extension has made me think about how the birds will cross over roads and road-works safely. This used to be a country that cared. Is it possible, and I think it is, to create Shire or state regulations that make it mandatory (such a simple measure for architects and road planners) to leave trees that connect flight paths and food areas for birds during road constructions. An example of this, would be to leave four or five high standing trees on opposite sides of a freeway (e.g. Banksias, gum trees) so that the birds can rest, feed and connect. The Rest-Feed-Connect trees will be rest and shelter spots in bad weather when bird flight paths are interrupted. The brilliant green feathered ring-necked parrots cling to branches and tree trunks during storms. The cockatoos travel back and forth between the Wheatbelt and the Perth metropolis. The younger cockatoos cannot fly the bigger distances until they are 2 or 3 years old. When we strip the R-F-C trees, we put the babies at high risk of perishing.
The cockatoos watch us too. The R-F-C trees will be ideal for these intelligent, endangered birds to watch us so they can plan their feeding and flight routes. R-F-C trees seems so simple and logical from my perspective.
