I’ve just returned from a lovely trip to Bermagui on the NSW south coast where I saw 73 species of birds in 10 days, including a ‘lifer’ which was a red-browed treecreeper that I spotted when walking up Mount Dromedary (or Gulaga as it is now called).
The highlight of my holiday was seeing and hearing the call of a few superb lyrebirds at Bermagui Mudworks pottery business, and the lowlight was my inability to photograph these magnificent birds, as they didn’t venture out of the thick bush.
I also saw a shy albatross after I had a swim and a snorkel at Blue Pool, which is a sea pool at the bottom of a cliff in Bermagui. In all the years I have been going to Bermagui, this was the first albatross I had seen in the area.
When I returned home, I had to purchase some groceries, so I ventured to the supermarket at Kingston Village opposite the Ocean Grove Nature Reserve. I had to park the car close to Grubb Road as the car park was busy and I looked up and two huge wedge-tailed eagles were just above my head, only around 20 metres off the ground. I was so cross at myself for not bringing my camera to the supermarket.
One of these birds was a juvenile. The next day I saw three wedgies flying low over Grubb Rd on the way to Drysdale, and I had my camera in the car but by the time I stopped in a safe spot they had flown east and out of range.
Regarding fledglings, the hooded plover juvenile on Ocean Grove beach is still going strong. There were a few hoodie hatchlings on the Spit when I was away, but they only survived for a few days. Apparently there were 12 fledged chicks around the Mornington Peninsula this season.
I received an email from Carole, who wanted to let me know that many black swans have returned to Swan Bay. Carole observed that there seems to be hundreds of them depending upon the day and the wind gusts. Swans tend to breed all year around depending on favourable conditions, and they can be seen in good numbers on the Bellarine Peninsula.
Carole has also been keeping an eye on the little egret breeding colony at Queenscliff.
I received an email from Alan, who told me that with the exodus of holiday makers and kids returning to school, he has started venturing out again for some photography. Alan thinks that Blue Waters Lake could be renamed either Green Waters Lake or Blue-green Algae Lake – the colour and smell have not gone away for a couple of months now, even after the recent heavy rain.
I can add a comment here that feeding waterfowl bread is not great for many reasons, such as dependence of the birds on people for food, the fact that bread is not part of a natural diet for these birds, and their poo feeds the algae in the waterways.
Alan observed that the blue-green algae does not seem to have impacted on the bird life around the lake. He noticed a great crested grebe, which he described as a ‘FIFO’ grebe that might be flying between various waterways on the Bellarine. There was also a fleeting visit from a freckled duck, in breeding colours – he was here one afternoon and gone the next day after a good bath and preening.
The reedy, east end of the lake is still popular with the Latham’s snipe, a buff-banded rail and a clack-tailed native hen. Alan’s book about birds of Blue Waters Lake has now sold 100 copies to date.
