Karkaroook Wetland Reserve in Melbourne, Australia

Yesterday, Fay and I drove down to Melbourne to visit our son and his wife and spend the afternoon walking around the Karkarook Wetland Reserve.
This reserve is fairly new and is a wetland developed in what used to be a gravel quarry. Although the plantings are still fairly young, the wetlands have developed really well with a wealth of birds to be seen.
I was able to get photographs of a number of very special birds, including 2 that I had never photograhed before.
The first bird we found was a Black Swan (Cygnus atrata) sitting on her nest

This message was edited Mar 2, 2007 8:30 PM

The Australian Little Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) is a fairly familiar bird on small water holes, but I only ever got one picture previously and had never seen the young. At Karkarook, we found at least four pairs of little grebes with their young in attendance. Here is an adult with its young:

Here is a closer shot of an adult grebe

and here is a closer shot of a baby grebe

At the next pool we reached, we spotted a male Blue-billed Duck (Oxyura australis), but before I could get a photograph, it disappeared into the poolside vegetation. My family's sharp eyes, spotted the flash of blue from its bill, and I got this picture of it hidden in the weeds:

I stood very still watching the duck and after a while it emerged, but still trying to hide, it swam very low in the water, with its bill flat on the surface. Here is the Blue-billed Duck trying to get to better cover without being seen. This is the first time I have ever been able to photograph a Blue-billed D.uck

This message was edited Mar 2, 2007 7:47 PM

Moving on to another pool, we found a pair of Black-winged Stilts (Himantopus himantopus) standing in the water.

Here is a closer shot of one of the stilts:

Beautiful birds that we don't normally see. Thanks so much for sharing your photos and your outing with us.

Janet

Moving on past several pools, we came on a pair of Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus), with two downy ducklings. They were far away on the further side of the pool, and I hurried round (by a fairly long circuitous route) in the hope of getting close enough for a picture. When I got round the other side, there was no sign of the Pink-eared Duck, but instead I found a lovely pair of Blue-winged Shoveller (Anas rhynchotis). These were also out of range and when I tried to get closer, they too disappeared. We then moved up onto the bank overlooking the large lake that dominates the Park. This lake contained the largest number of Silver Gulls (Larus novaehollandiae) that I have ever seen. They crowded the shore the whole way round the lake. I didn't attempt to count them, but there were certainly several thousand gulls. It was hard to spot any other birds on the lake, but I eventually spotted three species of Cormorant and the Masked Lapwing. Then I spotted a small group of grebe in close to the shore and I suspected that these were not the Australian Little Grebe that we had been looking at earlier. I made a close approach to the grebe and found that they were 6 Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus). These are the same size as the Australian Little Grebe, but they usually appear in flocks and usually on larger water bodies than the little grebes. I couldn't get very close, but still got some reasonable pictures. Here is a group of 3 Hoary-headed Grebes (the first I have ever photographed):

Very neat shots. Love the blue-billed duck.

Nice pics . . . your Little Grebe looks very like ours (T. ruficollis), very little difference - just a blacker throat (ours is all rufous on the throat and cheeks, whereas yours is only rufous behind the cheeks)

What's the Black Swan doing nesting at this time of year? I'd have thought they'd nest in Sept-Oct. Is it timed to follow high water levels?

Resin

and here is the closest shot I managed of a single Hoary-headed Grebe

Resin, it is very late for the swan to be nesting and to make it stranger still, it seems to be the only Black Swan in the reserve. There was no sign yesterday of her mate being anywhere in the vicinity.

So maybe just pretend-nesting, not really doing so?

Resin

We then decided to go back to the spot from which we had first seen the Pink-eared Duck in the hope that they would re-appear. With little downy babies, there was no way they could have gone very far.
We went back by the circuitous route I had taken earlier and near the boundary of the reserve found a couple of Crested Pigeons (Ocyphaps lophotes) feeding among the gravel. Here is one of the Crested Pigeons:

Wko knows! My son will tell us if she does produce any cygnets!

When we reached the first of the chain of pools, we were delighted to find that the Pink-eared Duck and their babies were there. They had swum quite a distance from where we first saw them, and as soon as we appeared they turned and started to swim back into cover. Before they disappeared however, I managed to get a few pictures. Here are the Pink-eared Duck family

Another Pink-eared Duck picture, showing the pink spot behind the ear that gives them their name. I think the bird with the very obvious pink spot is the male:

and one last picture of the Pink-eared Duck family. You can already see the fancy fringed beak developing on the youngsters

Oh my gosh great pics kennedy!! Thank you very much for posting these.

Beautiful birds but I must say, the ducks win my vote and my heart.

kim

Not only absolutely astounding, but educational as well - it's such a treat to see the birds of different countries. These are exceptional!

Kennedyh;,,

Thats quite the assortment of waterfoul...... Those Black Swans are really a beautiful bird..... I've only seen one a few years back in the wild here...... No camera though.......Haven't seen one since......


....Dave