What’s happened at Lake Galletly, Gatton?

I was at Phillip Island last week and there were several Swamp Harriers there. Lots of water all along the Hume highway (I did the return trip from Canberra to Melbourne) and almost no ducks and few other water birds but more than the usual number of raptors (Black & Whistling Kites, Brown Goshawks, Kestrels & Brown Falcons). For what it may be worth, there was massive breeding of Masked Lapwings and Cape Barren Geese on Phillip Island. The latter is a first for me. The species did not occur there as far as I recall in all my many visits in the 1970s.

Philip

—–Original Message—–
From: Birding-Aus [ thousands – and almost everything else seen in ones and twos other than
> Black Duck and Chestnut Teal) but so have all the Hoary-headed Grebes
> (usually hundreds, even thousands), Great Crested Grebes, spoonbills,
> avocets, Banded Stilts, Cape Barren Geese, and most of the Black-winged
> Stilts (I saw only one), ibis (only one White Ibis, although tens of
> Straw-necked remain), herons (only one White-faced) and egrets. It’s quite
> an exodus. The place looks eerily deserted, with pond after pond entirely
> bird-free.
>
> Richard