Hi all,
I did a quick visit to Ballarat (Vic) yesterday, lunching at the very
pleasant Boathouse Cafe on Lake Wendouree. While there I had a look
around and from a birding point of view it looks fantastic! It reminds
me of Fogg Dam near Darwin, with intermittent water and grassy wetlands.
Birds seen included Australian Spotted Crake (near a boardwalk on the
west-side of the lake), large numbers of Black-tailed Native-hen, good
numbers of Brown Songlark, Tree Martin, Welcome Swallow, Little
Grassbird, Australasian Grebe and a single Peregrine Falcon hunting over
the lake. Also seen were White-faced Heron, Grey Teal, Pacific Black
Duck, Musk Duck, Dusky Moorhen, Purple Swamphen, Eurasian Coot, Silver
Gull, Masked Lapwing, Australian White Ibis, Little Pied Cormorant and
Australasian Grebe.
Lake Wendouree (238 hectares) was originally a stream and wetland until
the lake was created in 1851. It's of usually full of water, but the
'green' drought of the Ballarat area has meant that it's been completely
dry for several years. Over winter there's been small amounts of water
in the lake and the rain on Friday and Saturday has created quite a few
large wet areas, and I imagine it looks somewhat similar to the original
swamp. If in the area it's really worth a visit.
Cheers,
Tim
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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