No Swamp Harriers either as I guess nothing for them to eat apart from the
large number of Black Swans and cygnets.
On 27 October 2016 at 11:27, Richard Nowotny <>
wrote:
> What’s particularly interesting at the Western Treatment Plant is that not
> only have tens of thousands of ducks left for greener inland pastures (not
> a single Grey Teal or Pink-eared Duck seen last Monday – often present in
> thousands – and almost everything else seen in ones and twos other than
> Black Duck and Chestnut Teal) but so have all the Hoary-headed Grebes
> (usually hundreds, even thousands), Great Crested Grebes, spoonbills,
> avocets, Banded Stilts, Cape Barren Geese, and most of the Black-winged
> Stilts (I saw only one), ibis (only one White Ibis, although tens of
> Straw-necked remain), herons (only one White-faced) and egrets. It’s quite
> an exodus. The place looks eerily deserted, with pond after pond entirely
> bird-free.
>
> Richard
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus On Behalf
> Of Dave Torr
> Sent: Wednesday, 26 October 2016 7:27 PM
> To: Penny Brockman
> Cc: birding-aus
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Whats happened at Lake Galletly, Gatton?
>
>
>
> Yes indeed. The famous Western Treatment Plant at Werribee is almost
> deserted by waterfowl at the moment.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 26 Oct 2016 7:19 PM, "Penny Brockman" < <>
> > wrote:
>
>
>
> > One thought - all the rain out west has attracted them to "better
> pastures"
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 26/10/16 6:08 PM, David Taylor wrote:
>
> >
>
> >> I’ve been a regular visitor to Lake Galletly at the UQ Campus at
>
> >> Gatton, Sth-east Queensland for many years and had some memorable
>
> >> birding encounters there. At its peak there were hundreds of
>
> >> Pink-eared Ducks, thousands of Plumed Whistling-ducks and similar
> numbers of Magpie Geese.
>
> >> Mixed amongst that were the likes of Blue-billed Ducks, Grey, Pacific
>
> >> Black, various Egrets, Herons, Cormorants, shorebirds, coots,
>
> >> swamphens etc as well as occasional Native-hens, Bitterns, Crakes and
>
> >> other rarities that have showed up there.
>
> >>
>
> >> Over recent visits every time I go there though there appear to be
>
> >> less and less birds! Cattle Egrets have colonised the areas around
>
> >> both ponds and appear to have breeding cycles a couple of times a
>
> >> year and then move on.
>
> >>
>
> >> I was amazed yesterday on my way home from Durikai to visit and see
>
> >> so few birds - not a Pink-eared in sight or a Magpie Goose - greatly
>
> >> reduced Whistling-ducks and a tiny smattering of other birds - I
>
> >> noticed some rather horrid green algae covering some of the lake and
>
> >> wondered if the water is affected at some level? There are numbers
>
> >> of Cattle Egret who appear to be in the early stages of a breeding
>
> >> bout but not much else. I do understand that wetland areas can change
>
> >> with climate/environmental issues and this can see variances in
>
> >> numbers but it does seem this terrific spot has lost its appeal for
> many of the local birds lately ….. any thoughts?
>
> >>
>
> >> Cheers
>
> >>
>
> >> David Taylor
>
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