Lake Gwelup Nankeen Night Heron

These birds frequent many of the lakes around Perth. Despite the name, Nankeen Night Heron, they are often seen during the day. This one held its pose while I zoomed in for a close-up. Thanks Heron.

Lake Gwelup Tawny Frogmouth

At Lake Gwelup today there were two Tawny frogmouths, one sitting on a nest and this one perched close by.
 

Australian white ibis

Australian white ibis at Lake Gwelup

Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) never used to be seen in Perth. Apparently, they turned up here in the 1950s. I can recall being very excited when seeing them for the first time soaring high over South Perth near the Zoo. This was in the 1980s. Later, I travelled to Sydney and was horrified to find a White ibis picking through a rubbish bin in a city park, the Domain. These days they are common all around Perth and gather in large flocks, gazing on open parklands.

At dusk you can see them returning to their roosts, flying in a characteristic V-shaped formation, much like the Canada geese.

Their normal food is invertebrates, such as locusts or mollusks. Unfortunately, the ibis has taken a liking to human scraps.


There are three ibis species in Perth

The White ibis  also known as the Sacred ibis

Another large ibis common around the city, the Straw-necked ibis

The Glossy ibis, a smaller ibis, which is less common in Perth

Rainbow Bee-eaters at Lake Gwelup

Lake Gwelup on a cold May morning

On May 8th 2016, the photography group of BirdLife Western Australia had an early morning excursion to Lake Gwelup. I didn't manage to get any fabulous bird photos, but this scene of reflections in the water, swans dipping their heads, and the mist rising from Lake Gwelup, captures the morning I hope.

 

Little pied cormorant and glossy ibis

To add to the list I posted recently of birds seen at the fast drying out Lake Gwelup...two more I saw last week were the little pied cormorant and the glossy ibis, both less frequent visitors.

The striated pardalote is mostly heard but not seen

(Photo copyright Wayne Eddy, reproduced with permission)

We hear the striated pardalote quite often, especially in spring, but they rarely come down from the neighbour's huge eucalypts, where they hang out. For such a tiny bird (11cm) and they have a very loud call, which you can hear via an MP3 recording on the Birds in Backyards site.

Striated pardalotes nest in tree hollows, mostly, like this one in a paperbark at Lake Gwelup. Wayne Eddy of The Friends of Lake Gwelup took this fantastic photo of the bird outside the nest hole.

More birds at Lake Gwelup

Today I spotted a few more birds to add to Tuesday's list at Lake Gwelup:

a pair of black fronted plovers
welcome swallows
pink eared ducks
Australian shelduck
Swamp harrier

The pink eared ducks are quite rare on this lake and they were mightily disturbed by the harrier passing overhead.

Lake Gwelup drying out...birds gathering

Lake Gwelup never used to dry out in the summer, but has done now for the last few years. This means that before the dry, birds gather there and the number of species seen is impressive. Over December 28-9 2010 I have spotted 34 species:

Pacific black duck
Grey teal
Wood duck
Australasian shoveler
Eurasian coot
Black swan
Purple swamp hen
Australasian grebe
Yellow spoonbill
Black winged stilt
White ibis
Straw necked ibis
Great egret
White faced heron
Reed warbler
Laughing turtledove
Spotted turtledove
Western gerygone
Twenty eight
Rainbow lorikeet
Galah
Short billed Corella
Rainbow bee-eater
Sacred kingfisher
Red wattlebird
Singing honeyeater
Brown honeyeater
Yellow rumped thornbill
Magpie lark
Grey butcherbird
Willie wagtail
Rufous whistler
Striated pardalote
Silver eye