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On a trip I took along Lake Rd on the 10th March I counted 17 Australasian Grebes (some of them juvs I think), and at least 15 Black Ducks (with 6 chicks) on the Big Dam. I also counted a few coots and moorhens. Unfortunately this was late in the afternoon so the glare on the dam was really bad and there may have been more birds out on the water that I couldn't see/identify. There were also DB Finches on the fenceline bordering the road.
The western side of the lake is the place to be right now. I went out to a property on Sunday with Micheal Lenz while he was doing waterbird counts and there were (if I recall correctly) Pink Eared Ducks, Grey Teal, Chestnut Teal, Hardhead, Shelducks, Black Ducks, Black Swans, and coots. I need to get the list from Michael, but I am sure that if he reads this he will be more than happy to correct my list if needs be.
There are also Black-fronted Dotterels (7+) and Australian Shelducks (2) at the Bungendore Sewage Works at the moment. On 27 March 2012 10:38, Ian Fraser <> wrote:
For a while there (late 80s??), it was also a good place for avocet
if I remember correctly.
Ian
On 27/03/2012 10:29, Mark Clayton wrote:
Martin,
I
presume you are talking about the area to the left of the
road driving IN on Lake Road, not all that far from
Bungendore Road. Many moons ago I travelled this road fairly
frequently as we were banding in the general area near
“Douglas” homestead. To the best of my knowledge this area
was always a natural depression that, in normal years (is
there such a thing???) had water in it. It did not at that
stage have the fence across the southern end that is now
present. I don’t know when the fence went in, it was well
after we stopped banding, but the area was dry and I assumed
, probably wrongly, that it had been drained. There was
earth pushed up to hold the fence posts up and I assumed
that that was the end of the depression. I hadn’t visited
the area probably for more than 15 years until Erika Roper I
think it was, commented on her visit to the area that I went
back along the road. In the “good old days” it was a place
to show people Red-kneed Dotterels and many other species. I
am sure there are old COG records listing all the things we
used to see.
I
will be interested to see what others recall if people can
remember the site.
Mark
From: martin butterfield
Sent: Tuesday, 27 March 2012 10:07 AM
To:
Cc: COG List
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Lake Rd Bungendore
I returned to
Lake Road yesterday and paid more attention to the big dam.
In fact there are quite a few waterbirds on it , including a
Musk Duck (possibly young male - the 'sac' wasn't obvious) and
at least one immature Australasian Grebe.
Going out on to the Lake bed - with the permission of the
landholder - I was able to establish that most of the flock of
ducks i was able to ge near were Grey Teal with quite a few
Pacific Black Ducks and a small number of Chestnut Teal. Then
a pair of Australian Shelduck spotted me and everyone left for
Currawang (on the far side of the Lake)!
The number of insects on the lake bed approached the numbers
reported from the Summer Arctic. Fortunately they appeared
not to be interested in my bodily contents and, as soon as I
stopped walking on them or their habitat, returned to their
normal business.
A final comment is that tit was suggested that the big dam
isn't in fact a dam but a natural hollow forming a wetland.
Does anyone else have a view on that little bit of trivia?
Martin
On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 10:22 AM,
<>
wrote:
Martin and others, after
an interesting visit to Bungendore and an
excellent lunch, we drove along Lake Road
and saw most of the same species you
reported but as we were leaving the area we
saw a pair of Black-shouldered Kites near
the Lake View Homestead. Only raptors seen
and, indeed, it is not very common these
days to see any raptors around even on a
drive to Sydney and back.
Lake Road used to be a
favorite of ours about 15 years ago and we
would visit several times each year but that
was when the water was lapping up to the
road and many Asian people would be there
fishing. But it is good to see the water
coming back and the grass up to the cattle's
bellies.
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--
Ian Fraser,
Environment Tours; Vertego Environmental Consultancy
PO Box 4148, Weston Creek, ACT 2611
ph: 61 2 6287 4813
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