Recent references to ‘Fivebough’
might cause some subscribers to wonder just what it is. I’m not an expert
on it, but I have visited it a few times over the last 4 years. It is a
reedy depression on the outskirts of Leeton, about 2km across. On the
southern end it is adjoined by the suburbs of Leeton, on the northern by
agricultural land. It is a mixture of so-called ‘permanent wetland’ and
‘ephemeral wetland’.
One of the things that strikes the
Canberra visitor to Griffith and Leeton is the apparently limitless amount of
water that is gushing along open channels and spilling over onto, among other
things, lawns, backyards and open and evidently non-productive spaces.
Clearly, water restrictions are unknown. The advantage of this for
Fivebough is that at this time when most ephemeral and even non-ephemeral
wetlands are bone-dry there is lots of water pouring into Fivebough, filling
even spaces that I have found to be dry at less droughty times than this.
This is of great benefit to the waterbirds that are crowding
in.
When you get there, you have two
ways to look at the birds, and of course you can try both. You can take up
at a vantage point at one of the places where you can get a panoramic view, for
example at the northern lookout, where you will see
this:
Actually, that makes it look a
bit distant, and with binoculars you might see something more like this.
Anyway, an impressive panorama of waterbirdlife.
The other thing you can do is walk
along the constructed dry pathways. As the Typha lining the paths is over
head height, you will only see things zipping in and out if you are quick
(including snakes), until you come to a spot where there is an open view, where
you will be closer to stuff than from a lookout, but you might find the shyer
things vacating your proximity fairly quickly. However this is your best
chance of getting close views of waders and crakes, particularly if you station
yourself noiselessly at one of those spots.
Anyway, back to my story. Last
Saturday morning I was using method 2, and finding stuff zipping off out of the
corner of my eye while I was concentrating somewhat on the presence or
absence of reptiles of the legless variety. On two occasions as I came in
view of a new section of track a raptor exploded away from the vegetation edge
across the typha-tops. On one occasion it was a Brown Goshawk carrying
what appeared to be a small rat. On the second occasion I could not
identify the bird but I think it was probably a harrier. Where it had been
crouching was a recently deceased Baillons Crake, looking something like
this:
Surprisingly, although recently
killed and uneaten, it was slightly stiff as if it had been lying in the
sun for an about an hour, so maybe the raptor had been sitting there feeling
good about itself and building up an appetite.
This then is why those little crakes
are often a bit on the wary side. This story should also give heart to
anyone a discouraged by their early attempts at bird photography with their new
digital camera. Just around the corner there will be something that won’t
fly away if you take a bit of time getting the focus right.
