Trucking Yard Ln and Lake Rd

[Anthony Overs via Canberrabirds <>]

Peter, someone asked me privately yesterday if I had checked the other dams for the PWD. We had a look at the dams from Hoskinstown Rd, there was nothing on them at all. Our quick drive up Lake Rd revealed only coots in the shallows and inundated grasses along the edge.

Geoffrey, great point. All the shelducks were feeding on the grain. Most of the other ducks were moving between the feed and the dam. Regarding other species and association with exotic plants, if someone wanted to see a YT Black-cockatoo I would take them to the pines in Nth Curtin or Isaacs. Gang-gangs? Blue gums on Anzac Pde. King Parrots? Acorns in Deakin. Wet forests are the least disturbed, but do we really have a grasp of the impact of weeds and change in fire regime (Too often or not often enough? Too hot?).

Anthony

On Fri, 28 Jul 2023 at 12:38, Peter Cranston via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

Hello Geoffrey, Anthony and COGers

We saw the painted snipe at :Lake Road lake when Geoffrey was also there in 2017. Our rural (Windellama) commute to and from town 

can deviate to the 'lake' so I have followed the earth moving and subsequent sterility of the dry, droughted lake. Even after the early rains 

commenced and the lake started to refill, it was rarely of interest. However in the past year it has filled to its previous size and has 'matured' to a pleasantly 

eutrophic and insect-productive waterbody with diverse attendant birds. I can see no evidence of 'slurry' run-off from the farm.

Yesterday the Pink-eared Ducks, Red-kneed and Black-fronted Dotterels were still present and active +++++. Now well worth a detour, although 

no painted snipe (yet ?)

In contrast, the whistling ducks are no longer consistently present at Trucking Yard and, if present, are few in number and also appear absent from

other local sloughs.

Pete Cranston

On Fri, Jul 28, 2023 at 12:10 PM Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:

Thank you Anthony. How interesting that so many of our great birding spots are human-created. Surely the main bird-attracting feature of the Tucking Yard Lane site is the liberal spreading of stock-feed in the fattening paddocks.  Most of suburban Canberra is a bird-attracting smorgasbord of exotic plantings, far removed from the earlier clapped-out sheep paddocks or even earlier grasslands or woodlands.  A minor example of habitat creation is the more recent accommodation of the invasive Noisy Miner (as discussed).  I wonder what would be the best local example of a 'naturally-occurring' species in  relatively undisturbed habitat.

 

'Relatively undisturbed' would be a challenge to find, given that  so much of our wooded hillsides is regrowth. Perhaps some spots in the wet gullies of the ranges would qualify, with a handful of qualifying bird species.  

 

Any mention of the watery Lake Road depressions recalls the abundant bird life there in 2017, including the non-breeding p-snipe.  I have slightly revised the below graphic from that time.  At this remove, I am unable to remember why the filter-feeding had to stop before Chris Davey got there.  You could probably find it in the list archive.

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Canberrabirds <> On Behalf Of Anthony Overs via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2023 4:10 PM
To: COGChat <>
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Trucking Yard Ln and Lake Rd

 

Yesterday morning, my friend Steve and I went to have a look at the dam on Trucking Yard Lane at Bungendore.

 

The moment we got out of the car, there were a couple of hundred ducks, galahs and corellas wheeling about in a panic. We looked up and scanned the sky, but could not see any raptors.

 

After quickly setting up the scope, we could see a large raptor just 20 metres past the far side of the dam. It was a very large female Peregrine Falcon. She was standing on and devouring a Grey Teal. It took her about 15 minutes to have her fill before she disappeared (while we were momentarily not watching). A pair of Australian Ravens then wandered over and helped themselves to the leftovers.

 

After the birds had settled we counted loads of ducks, including 38 Australian Shelducks. There were no whistling ducks. There were hundreds of Little Corellas and about 75 Galahs.

 

At the large dam over on Lake Rd, there were plenty of coots, wood ducks and Australasian Grebes. The highlights were four Pink-eared Ducks, a pair of Red-kneed Dotterels and two pairs of Black-fronted Dotterels. 

 

A great morning’s birding!

 

Anthony

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