Fascinating stuff Steve. I grew up in Forbes, but only took to binoculars in about 2005, so couldn’t comment on what was at Lake Urine (as the locals call it) before that. Note that Gum Swamp was just a wooded depression prior to being used as part of the sewage works, when it became flooded permanently and killed the trees within. When the sewage works were upgraded a few years back there was no longer enough water coming from the works to keep it flooded and it now needs to be topped up (from the river?) to maintain water level. A bit of foresight shown by Forbes Shire Council. As far as I can tell, though, the back swamp/pond (to the north of the one visible from the bird hide, accessible by driving around a couple of lanes or by walking around from the hide) now rarely sees water, whereas it was regularly wet with the former sewage works.
Certainly the WBSE have been there between 2005 and 2010 when I left town, and it appeared they had been there for some time then. There were two WBSE nests evident at the time, only one in use, in the NW corner of the swamp.
Neville Schrader is from Parkes and would definitely know the history of any WBSE at Gum Swamp. Great that the archives allow us to pin this arrival date down so well. I wonder if they have ever fledged any young – not that I know of, but my records would be far from definitive.
Interesting that Neville says they evicted the Whistling Kites. In my time the kites were there with the WBSE, although with nests at opposite ends of the ponds, with the peregrines occupying hollows in the middle ground.
As to ducks there, blue billed and freckled ducks were there most of the time between 2005-2010, in low numbers. I only recall seeing musk ducks a couple of times, whereas in earlier years there seems to have been a larger established population. Pink ears and grey teal were there most of the time but in hugely variable numbers, Aust shovelers were there maybe half the time.
John Rawsthorne
From: Steve Read [
Sent: Wednesday, 10 September 2014 5:27 PM
To: 'Philip Veerman'
Cc: 'COG List'
Subject: [canberrabirds] RE: A few hours to the west
Hi Philip
A post at http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/birding-aus/1997-08/msg00048.html gives 1997 as the date of arrival of a pair of white-bellied sea-eagles at Gum Swamp, and describes the impact on other bird species (as deduced by the poster). Depending on the age of the swamp, of course, and whether it was enlarged or had its hydrology changed by human intervention, sea-eagles may have been present many times in past millennia.
Steve
Yes that has been a regular spot to stop. I stop there on most of my drives from or to Brisbane from Canberra or Melbourne, over the last 40 years. In particular the white-bellied sea-eagle on nest has likely been there for most of that time or maybe longer, I have certainly seen this nest and the owners over at least the last 20 years, although it may have been more than one nest. The local peregrine and all the pigeons- surely a connection there, are also regulars, as are the ducks..........
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Read [m("aanet.com.au","steve.read");">]
Sent: Wednesday, 10 September 2014 6:49 AM
To: 'COG List'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] A few hours to the west
And if you’re out west, it’s worth stopping at Gum Swamp, a couple of km SW of Forbes:
http://www.forbes.nsw.gov.au/f.ashx/docs/Gum_Swamp_RENEWED_2013.pdf
I was there only for an hour or so at dusk at the weekend, but there were birds in abundance and variety, including numbers of pink-eared ducks, hardhead and shovelers, and a couple of freckled duck. Highlight was a white-belied sea-eagle on (on, better, in) an enormous nest. Interestingly, large numbers of feral pigeons were roosting on dead redgums and flying around, unperturbed by the local peregrine. Several fantailed cuckoos were moving quietly through the bush around the swamp.
Steve
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