Birdwatching by canoe offers another dimension to birdwatching. In search of that different dimension, 11 birdwatchers took to the water on Wallaga Lake, near Bermagui, over the weekend of 7 and 8 February. Paddling in canoes hired in Moruya, the group headed off at 8am across the lake from the Beauty Point Caravan Park, where we stayed, heading for Narira Creek, on the southern end of the lake, on a bright sunny morning in nice calm conditions. Having gotten over the bar at the mouth, we paddled with the incoming tide, up the creek past wetlands, cow pastures, tea-trees, casuarinas, eucalypt forest, etc. We were impressed not only with the birds we found but also with the variety of fish darting about underneath our boats in the lovely clear water. Morning tea was earned by all on the return journey when we had to contend with challenging waves whilst paddling back across the lake to Beauty Point.
On late Saturday afternoon we took a different tack and paddled out to the mouth of the estuary across the tidal flats. The party delighted in our ability to get close to some birds on the sandbars that might ordinarily be only seen through a telescope.
Following a mighty storm on Saturday night, on Sunday morning we paddled across the middle of the lake, past a roosting White-bellied Sea-Eagle, into the lower part of Dignams Creek. There we found one channel where we were able to stop close to an Azure Kingfisher so intent on his fishing that, to our delight, we were ignored and allowed to gaze upon his beautiful plumage. Here we also chanced upon a Common Greenshank. Nearby we also startled some Nankeen Night Herons which were a first for many in the party. Nearby some Dollarbirds called to us all from their vantage point high up in a nearby overhanging tree.
At the finish, a number of the party expressed their pleasure at seeing Wallaga Lake by boat for the first time and being able to see birds from another perspective. Hopefully we might be able to repeat the experience on another waterway, possibly closer to Batemans Bay, next year.
During the weekend, we saw about 64 species, which included (as well as the above) an overhead flock of Topknot Pigeons and the endangered Little Tern, possibly nesting.
Chris Bellamy