FW: [canberrabirds] Yesteryear at the swamp

[Geoffrey Dabb <>]

Thanks Shorty.  A great comparison.  I like the way you have matched a lowering sky to the soggy conditions, and our pitiless blue Australian sky to the arid scene.  You can be in charge of taking the picture of Typha die-back to send to Michael with our ‘wish-you-were-(still) here’ card.

 

From: shorty <>
Sent: Wednesday, 2 January 2019 3:54 PM
To: Geoffrey Dabb <>
Cc: COG Chat <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Yesteryear at the swamp

 

Yes Geoffrey, This place changes all the time. 

 

My pics are far too large to reduce enough for the chatline so i have posted 2 pics on my FlickR to show how quick it can change. First pic is from December 14 2013 and the second is January 17 2014. What a difference a Month can make. ( Both pics from Cygnus hide )

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/

 

Shorty

 

On Wed, Jan 2, 2019 at 2:23 PM Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:

So many people are taking an interest in Kelly Swamp that a little historical note as regards the veg might be of interest.  Here is a low-res idea of the view from a few metres to the north of Cygnus hide in 2003. That watery space is now almost entirely Typha.

 

 

 

Below is the view looking from the western side in 2007.  Cygnus hide is concealed behind the willow.  That tree (red arrow and at left in above photo) was the site of spoonbill nesting in 2009.  The well-known log (blue arrow) is now lost to view but was a favourite perch for many species.  One of the fledgling spoonbills is shown on it, but photographed from Cygnus hide which still (just) offered a log view in 2009. The spoonbill willow is still there, but looking rather threadbare.  I don’t remember Kellys before the hides.  By 2003 I think they had just had their names nailed on by Harvey Perkins, I think to help with directions for the purpose of the telephone bird information line operated by Ian Fraser.  My next door neighbor would remember though: he went to school with Farmer Kelly’s boys.