Koonung Creek Wetlands

This term we are learning about water. We've been finding out about the water cycle and how water is constantly moving and changing form, refreshing our fresh water supply. This is necessary for life to exist on Earth. We have learnt about Melbourne's water cycle which includes catchment areas, rivers, creeks and wetlands. All the grade 3 and 4 classes went on a walk to the local Koonung Creek wetlands. We saw how rubbish can enter waterways through drains. We saw lots of rubbish stuck high up in the trees where water levels had reached during storm surges. We saw plants such as reeds which are commonly found in wetlands and provide shelter and protection for animals and help prevent errosion. We could hear frogs craoking and we observed many wetland birds. We saw six differnet species in total; Eurasian Coot, Purple Swamphen, Dusky Moorhen, Little Pied Cormorant, Pacific Black Duck and Chestnut Teal. Some of the birds looked quite similar and at first they were difficult to tell apart, but we were able to spot subtle differences after looking at them for awhile such as slightly different coloured beak or eye feathers.