Getting one's bearings

[Kim Farley via Canberrabirds <>]

Hi Geoffrey

A shame you didn't see more interesting birds at Wet Lagoon, but it is always nice to have a jaunt out of town I find. Wet Lagoon is also a bit tricky in that there are only three spots to pull off the road. I was there in June and took my campervan (it needed a run). I decided to do a U turn by partly turning into a gateway at the freeway end of the Lagoon. Unfortunately the combo of a heavy vehicle and recent rain meant I got well and truly bogged. My total of Swamphens was very accurate that day as I had plenty of time to count them while I waited for the NRMA! 

It would be great to paddle a canoe out into Wet Lagoon as those reed beds must shelter all sorts of nice birds - including Bitterns at times. The water plants are also very interesting - the garden pond at my former house was vegetated almost exclusively from plants propagated from Wet Lagoon. 

During droughts Wet Lagoon dries out completely - I used to think the name of Wet Lagoon was a local farmer's joke, but it has been very wet for several years now. And it occasionally floods up onto the road.

Kim

On Sun, 4 Aug 2024, 2:57 pm Geoffrey Dabb via Canberrabirds, <> wrote:

This morning I drove to Wet Lagoon.  A few waterbirds there, nothing all that interesting.  This short report is for anyone who might want to get their bearings, so to speak, on this so-described lagoon, which is just within the northern boundary of the COG area of interest.  The attached graphic might need a word of explanation. The top picture is a view across the lagoon from Breadalbane Road. The line of trees indicated by red arrow are alongside the Hume Highway.  Evidently  a decision was made to ornament the very obvious home-made slow-down signs with images of the Australasian Swamphen. While this might be the waterbird most in danger from the speeding motorist it is surely not the one of most concern. I have offered a draft redesigned sign in which one Australasian Swamphen has been replaced by an Australasian Bittern, the latter threatened species being of relevance by reason of its recorded appearance at this site. My bittern image shows an actual bird that was observed some years ago at Rose Lagoon, which I hope will not create unnecessary confusion. The lower image shows the relationship between the two waterbodies, which are about the same size, and separated by about 10km. To fit in the picture, the axis of the Google-Earth image has been turned from NW-SE to W-E.  

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