Hello Birding-Ausers,
It is 6 months or so already since the “superflood” which hit the Kerang region of northern Victoria during the summer just gone. The birdlife in the region has been booming and things are only going to get better as we come into this spring and summer. I deliberately avoided visiting the various wetlands duing autumn/winter, while the duck shooting season was in swing, but headed up for a quick fying visit this weekend.
The Kerang Lakes region has something in the region of 80 wetlands ( almost merging to one his summer !) , and its safe to assume that they all have water at present. But whats more there are many low lying areas which only receive water once in a generation. There are still many of these areas around, gradually drying up…..too many to mention but they are dotted around all over the place.
As is the case with wetlands, their conditions can change quite quickly as water levels fluctuate.so it will be hard to keep track of where the hot spots are as the weeks go by. In my flying trip on Sunday I called in at Hirds and Johnsons swamp to start with. The roads we wet and mushy. The track around Hirds was impassable…so I walked and the birdlife was prolific. In the 300 hundred metres I walked from the northern point down, I saw many hundreds of duck…..mostly Grey Teal. Various Cormorants were ever present in the sky, especially Little Pied in good numbers. Pelicans were floating in the distance, Black-tailed Nativehens were calling from the flooded lignum areas…no doubt preparing to breed again. Grassbirds and Reed Warblers were calling……..the whole flock of Fairy Martins that live under the bridge across the Pyramid Creek have returned, and a Sacred Kingfisher was either a very early return, or a wintering bird. I’m sure Bitterns will be breeding here this spring/summer and just about any other waterbird you can think of !
Next I drove up Day Lane to Johnson’s swamp nearby. It is a gravel road up to the swamp but from there it was walking only. The birdlife here was even more prolific. Just from one spot at the southern tp of the swamp which is many kms across, there were large numbers of all sorts of species. 150 Purple Swamphen were feeding in a grassy field whilst a Flame Robin sang nearby. The sky was full of birdlife………Cormorants eg 54 Greats,, Duck, Kites, Spoonbillls and Egrets, Ibis and Harriers……absolutley flat out ! A Little Egret was feeding in the shallows…..a rare bird in the area, and an adult Sea-Eagle suveyed the scene….clearly happy with what it was seeing .
The second part of the morining I spent west of Kerang around Lake Bael Bael/Lake Lookout/the Avoca River and the Bael Bael grasslands. The wetlands on the Avoca ( Bael Bael, The Marshes etc ) are all very full still and fairly quiet birdwise ( including Cullens Lake )..but still worth a look. Their time will certainly come. Out on the plains various open floods and low lying ephemeral swamps are attracting plenty of birds. Nativehen and Red-kneed Dotterel, various Duck, the occasional wintering Whiskered Tern. Rarely filled saline depressions are filling off ground water, and attracting Avocets and Plovers. Around the grasslands Spotted harriers were sighted here and there, White-winged Wrens in good numbers, still lots of Stubble Quail, and some Banded Lapwings are returning. I ran out of time to go further north and explore Lakes Tutchewop and Kelly, but I imagine that they are primed and ready for an explosion of life this summer. The Avoca river is still running, albeit slowly, so the Avoca floodway should still be very interesting. .
I tallied up 91 species in the 5 hours I was birding….without even trying. You could kill a long weekend in the area without a trouble! Getting the hint 😉
Cheers,
Simon Starr.
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