Hi all,
A quick message for Victorian readers, there are at least 18 Freckled Ducks, with at least 1 male in breeding plumage, on Lake Lorne at Drysdale, 20km ESE of Geelong. In yesterday’s warmth and sunshine they were a beautiful site. For such a rare bird it was a real pleasure to get 12 in one photo.
The lake also has a large number of Blue-billed Ducks with gorgeous blue bills. One of the more interesting sights was a pair of Eastern Rosellas checking out the duck breeding boxes.
I would suggest an early or late visit if you intend to go because most of the birds went to roost in the middle of the day and were totally hidden by the willows on the islands.
cheers
Jenny ===============================
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Hi Peter and All
Good one Peter, nice to hear back from you. Pity HANZAB missed the Kangaroo Island records and yes it probably was because of timing-both KI bird Book and HANZAB being published close together. I am staggered at the reported 10,000 in Currawinya NP-seeing 2800 together was fantastic let alone 10K of them!
Cheers
Chris Baxter
Dear all,
This is not the greatest concentration of Freckled Ducks recorded in Australia. An estimated 10,000 Freckled Ducks in a very conpact mass was seen on one of the lakes in Curawinya National Park in the mid-nineteen-nineties. This sighting was written up in a paper “Birds of Currawinya National Park”, published in Sunbird, Vol. 25, 1995.
Regards Shirley Cook
I am very happy to be corrected. Chris – I have that splendid little Kangaroo Island publication on my shelves and did not think to check it. HANZAB gives a single example of a concentration at one lake but also overlooks the Kangaroo Island records (perhaps because it was published at around the same time, my copy of your Annotated List says it was first published in 1989 and Volume 1 of HANZAB was first published in 1990, and that was long before Eremaea). The examples of other excellent concentrations from SA (thanks Bob) and elsewhere may be cause for celebration – perhaps the species is recovering numbers since protection? I have to say I am astonished by the Currawinya estimate that Shirley points out. That might have been 50% of the total population (HANZAB gives 19,000). It must have been amazing to see that flock. Thanks for the feedback. I am still excited at the discovery of such a large number in northern Queensland having been more used to thinking of a singleton or a few at a time as a special treat and even in southern Australia not necessarily in big numbers.
Peter
0427 634 136 peter.valentine@jcu.edu.au
On 12/05/2013, at 11:29 AM, Shirley Cook wrote:
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Hi Peter Reflecting Chris Baxters message, it sounds like SA might be the spot. We (BirdLife South East SA) have records of 440 (2004) and 500+ (2005) from Bool Lagoon, c.500 from Lake George (two years ago), and an across the border record of 400 from Lake Wendouree, Ballarat of 400 (2006).
Having said that it is still an amazing record and not something that you expect to come across often, particularly as you said for northern QLD.
Bob Green ===============================
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Hi Peter and All
I must inform you Peter that 441 Freckled Duck at a reserve in Queensland is not even close to the largest concentration ever found in Australia. On Kangaroo Island, SA, which acts as a drought refuge for waterfowl, I have observed concentrations of 500+ on several occasions on brackish paperbark swamps-and most significantly,recorded a single flock of ca 2800, largely exclusive of any other species, on a small freshwater wetland at Haines, KI on 7 Dec 1980. This is recorded in ‘An Annotated List of Birds of Kangaroo Island’; Baxter 1985; revised 1995.
Cheers
Chris Baxter