Hello all, I followed up Jen Spry’s excellent posting about the Freckled Ducks at Lake Lorne on Cup Day on Tuesday. What a buzz it was to finally see these great ducks. I got out of the car and 2 minutes later was watching 3 Freckled Ducks, 2 females and a male without breeding colour. I popped back to the car for my scope and it lovely to also see the stunning Blue-billed Ducks (also mentioned by Jen). I spent a while enjoying the ducks and looking for the males in full breeding clouds mentioned by Jen. I found one male over by the island who was partially hidden and just as I was about to call it a day, I spotted a male just out from the island in full breeding colours. Wow. In all, I saw around 10 Freckled Ducks.To the fat right of the lake (in the Port Arlington direction), there were around 300 different water birds feeding in the shallows. For those people doing the Twitchathon next weekend, this would be a good place to consider. Recently while birding with Andrew Stafford, he mentioned had I seen the Yellow-breasted Boatbill. I said to Andrew that it was ticked in 2000 and that Deb and I thought we had seen it on Lizard Island. Andrew thought it was an unlikely spot for them. I have since seen them while out with Alan Gillanders earlier this year on the Atherton Tablelands. If any of the Far North Queensland experts are reading this post, do you think it is a possibility that we may have seen them on Lizard Island? Andrew thought they exist only on the mainland in higher tropical forests. Happy birding, Patrick Scully ===============================
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