Wendouree Waterbirds

After a great morning at 13th Beach/Black Rocks, I ventured inland to Lake Wendouree in Ballarat to see the nesting Great Crested Grebes.

The lake is buzzing with birdlife this year with many species of waterbirds roosting, nesting and feeding.

Pacific Black Duck, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Pacific Black Duck, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Australian Wood Duck, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Black-tailed Native Hen, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Dusky Moorhen, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Eurasian Coot, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Little Pied Cormorant, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

The highlight was seeing the Great Crested Grebes. These beautiful birds are not rare but are rarely seen close-up so, with at least 6 nests all within 25 metres of the walking track along the edge of Lake Wendouree (in the Fairyland section near the Ballarat Botanic Gardens), there is a lot of activity near the shore giving great close-ups of the birds.

Great Crested Grebe, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Great Crested Grebe, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Great Crested Grebe, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Great Crested Grebe, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Some of the nests are quite cryptic

Great Crested Grebe, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

but others are wide out in the open

Great Crested Grebe, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Great Crested Grebe, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Great Crested Grebe, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

An added bonus was this male Musk Duck in full display mode. He went through the whole routine for more than 20 minutes including 5 minutes of calling--a shrill whistle. I've heard this call before but never actually seen the bird calling until today.

Musk Duck (male), Lake Wendouree, Ballarat

Northern Victoria (Part 2)

Terrick Terrick National Park (view map) is a great place for birds in open woodland and grasslands. By the time I got there it was late morning so not a lot of bird activity but I did get a good walk around and over Mt Terrick Terrick and found this cooperative Galah pair.

Galah (male), Terrick Terrick NP

Galah (female), Terrick Terrick NP

I was tempted to hang around longer but was also keen to get to Lake Meran to check it out since the floods had filled the lake. On the way north, I spotted a group of babblers in the roadside vegetation. I find babblers really difficult to photograph as they are almost constantly moving but this one cooperated for a few seconds while trying to extract insects from under the bark on this branch.

Grey-crowned Babbler, Boort-Kerang Road

Lake Meran is a small permanent freshwater lake (well it used to be until the drought for the last decade) between Boort and Kerang (view map). Floods earlier this year and continuing recent rains have filled the lake

Lake Meran

A lot of farmland is still covered with water and many of the roads around the Lake and nearby Leaghur State Park are closed still with water covering the road. Photographically accessible birdlife on the lake was limited as much of the activity was taking place in the offshore vegetation and the walking tracks around the lake were under water. However, I did see Nankeen Night-Heron, White-faced Heron, White-necked Heron, Australian White Ibis, Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Pacific Black Duck, Eurasian Coot, Dusky Moorhen, Purple Swamphen, Whistling Kite, Peregrine Falcon. Sadly, there were very few bush birds active (probably courtesy of the Peregrine Falcon) with only Australian Magpie, Magpie-lark and Noisy Miner present around the picnic area.

I did manage to see three Great Crested Grebe in more open water.

Great Crested Grebe, Lake Meran