It could well be a Lewin's Rail, from what you wrote. We had one very
celebrated one at Commonwealth Park some years ago. Many COG members went to
see it. That is the only one of that species I have ever seen. So it is not
a mundane record.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul T.
Sent: Monday, 11 June 2012 9:39 PM
To:
Subject: West Beconnen Pond?
Howdy All,
I went to the West Belconnen Pond (I am never sure exactly what this
pond is called, but that is what it is called on the truelocal
maps). It's the big pond that is more or less a large oxbow type of
shape with a couple of islands in it. Is this the one that people
call Jaramlee Pond? I can't find any names at the place to tell me
for sure, just a sign about Surveyors and One Tree Hill.
Anyway, there were a heap of water birds there today when I dropped
by for my second ever visit. A huge amount of coots/swamphens on the
water, with Purple Swamphens wandering about in the surrounding
areas. There were Hardheads (Lovely chocolate colour to them with a
white bill tip and white undermarkings when their wings were
extended?), Pacific Black Ducks, Mallards, Swans with growing
signets, and the white escapee duck that has been mentioned
before. One Little Pied Cormorant (I think?) and a smaller and more
slender similarly shaped bird (A darter?). There were at least 150
birds on the water in the area I was (which was the most South
Easterly point of the pond, where that platform and filter or
whatever it is is located), and something like 100 more towards the
far shore visible from that point. I never went across there to
check what else was amongst those. I've not been water bird spotting
much in the past, so it was rather nice to see some of the things I
have read about. I rather like the Hardheads. Very elegant colourations.
I'm not sure whether this is of note or not, but there was, as far as
I could tell, a Lewin's Rail skulking at the water's edge right near
that platform/filter thing. If flew to the water's edge at one point
when a dog went by as I was arriving. It had a dark body/wings with
red head (just like the glight illustration in the Pizzey and Knight
Field Guide) and then skulked along the edge for about 5 minutes
before darting into the grass when a duck came close. It never
reappeared after that. I think it was a Lewin's judging by the
illustration in P&K, as I am not that familiar with water birds so I
had to come home and have a look at the book to work out which one it
was. Definitely a red head, and definitely a solidly dark body, at
least to my eyes. I have some photos from a distance, but haven't
got them off my camera as yet to see whether there are any other
features I can glean from them.
So, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, despite a cold wind blowing at the
time. I was chuffed to see a Rail, as I've only ever seen one other
before this. Very cool.
Please let me know if I've gone into too much detail for the
list. Apologies if regarded as mundane.
Cheers.
Paul T.
Higgins, ACT.
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