A full boat set off at 6 pm on a hot evening on this partly exploratory trip on the EL "Cygnet", as it was the first time COG had used this means to look at birds on the Lake Burley Griffin itself.
Our first objective was to check for darter/cormorant breeding in the willows etc along the eastern bank of Black Mountain Peninsula. This is a relatively new breeding spot for these species, and a check by Jim the skipper in November had indicated it was at a much lower level compared with Molonglo Reach. However, this was not the case by mid-January, in fact the level of breeding activity rivalled the more traditional spot.
Initially a group of up to 12 Little Pied Cormorant nests were seen close to the entrance to Sullivan's Creek. This was dwarfed by the extent of breeding further down round about the start of Gary Owen Drive where there were "wall to wall" nests and several apartment blocks over a couple of 100 metres. Most of these were either Little Pied or Little Black Cormorants, all of which were very quick to take flight making estimates of the number of nests and their stages difficult for the at least 50 birds present of each species. However, at least one nest contained 3 lovely dark downy young of the latter.
Scattered amongst these were at least half a dozen Darter nests with breeding at all stages, some with a parent (male or female) sitting tight, a couple of nests with large but still very downy young, and several juveniles sitting a metre or so out of the nest. A bit further down were 2 more Darter nests, with in one case a very young chick with its neck spiralling in typical fashion towards the sitting parent. Of the 15 or so Darters, 4 were males in breeding plumage. Only several Great Cormorants were seen, with again no confirmed breeding activity.
A couple of Dollarbirds on this same stretch rounded off a perfect start to the trip. Typically the remainder of the trip couldn't live up to the above high expectations. Easily the most numerous waterbird were several hundred Eurasian Coot. One surprise was 4 pairs of Black Swans with cygnets, with at least two still very young, probably not a month old. Several young Purple Swamphens were also seen, as were 4 still young Australian Wood Ducklings at Yarralumla Bay. There were very few ducks, of which nearly all were the Pacific Black Duck. The Clamorous Reed-Warbler was commonly heard and occasionally fleetingly seen wherever there were any reeds.
The visit to Yarralumla Bay did reveal one Silver Gull nest on an ADFA boat. A visit on 2 January to all 3 bays where nesting was so common in 2003-2004 revealed only one lot of nesting material on a single boat, confirming earlier suspicions that the authorities are much more zealous in ensuring boats are kept clean this breeding season.
A total of just over 20 species for the night is not a high tally. However, the breeding was spectacular and is well worth a further visit, together with a more detailed look at some of the closer spots. Further trips may be a bit less ambitious and omit the rather long trek to Acacia Inlet (not a grebe in sight).
Jack Holland