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: 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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