Canberrans enjoy debating whether this waterbirdy spot should be known as Rose Lagoon or Rowe’s Lagoon. It nestles by the Federal Highway between Goulburn and Canberra, the below view being what your passenger might see, more or less, from your car window if you are driving south. More than 50 ha at its full extent it lies, like nearby Lake George, in between the Murray-Darling and Shoalhaven drainages. It is on private land, but there is a lagoon-side rest area, commemorating John Edmondson VC. What you might find here depends on the water level. At the moment there is too much water to suit wading birds although Glossy Ibis and Pied Stilt have been reported recently. In favourable conditions one species you might see from a distance is the (endangered) Australasian Bittern. The below snaps of a receding Bittern were taken there in 2014 and 2015. The species has been reported since, but not, so far as I know, in the dry year 2019 and at the moment there seems to be too much water for it, conditions being more favourable for nesting swans.
Geoffrey Dabb
