On Sunday afternoon, ten enthusiastic birders embarked on the electric boat to explore the upper reaches of the Molonglo River in search of Darters on their nest. And what a feast we had! We saw a total of 21 nests with parents and young either on nests, or close to nests. The Darters are beautiful birds and we were easily able to see the differences between the male, female and young at close quarters, binoculars hardly required. Some of the young birds were still downy. We saw several birds being fed by their parents.
Also sitting on branches or dead logs were single birds, with wings outstretched. Sometimes they would fly off as we approached and we had views of them in flight.
Besides the Darters, and often literally beside them in the same tree, were cormorants also nesting. I was unable to count the nests of the Little Pied and the Little Black Cormorants accurately, but there were probably between six and ten of each. Also there were about three Great Cormorants nesting.
As we sailed back across the lake, a Caspian Tern plummeted into the water, not far from our boat.
Elizabeth Compston