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Last Wednesday, a small but intrepid group gathered at 8 am on the back oval for the annual bird count. I believe it is one of the largest environmental surveys undertaken each year in Australia. Of great help was Felix, son of staff member Jo Wood, whose bird spotting skills eclipsed mine by a long way.

I have been spotting birds around Kilbreda since my arrival here more than 30 years ago. In my interview, Sr Mary Dalton, remarked that, unlike my previous school in the bush, Kilbreda was nothing but bricks and cement. Nevertheless, the place has a surprising diversity of bird life. Unlike my former school, the beautiful Braemar College, Woodend, nestled in many hectares of natural bushland on the slopes of Mount Macedon, Kilbreda sits in the middle of a bustling town. While my French room at Braemar looked out over Hanging Rock in the distance and a local landmark, known as the ‘kookaburra tree’ for obvious reasons, one might assume the same could not be said of Kilbreda.

However, I have noticed many attempts by native birds to adapt to this built-up environment. One example is the Rosella. Pairs of Eastern and more recently Crimson Rosellas, have nested in the brickwork near the corner of Room 4, finding their way into the wall cavity through a box gutter. Another which caught my attention years ago, was a Willy Wagtail, which nested at about eye-level in a little tree which grew up out of a hole in the concrete in the Peace Court, back in the days when Sr Mary Dalton parked her car under a carport, long since removed. Of course, who could forget the owl which made its home on the colonnade in the weeks after Sr Mary’s death in early 1995  and maintenance man Vin Pipe’s attempts to get rid of it!

Damian Smith 

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