Day 11, Warrnambool to Narracoorte

Date: Tuesday October 17th 2023

Project: Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey

Observers: John Porter (NSW DPE), Paul Wainwright (SA DEW)

Trainee: Scott Henshall (Vic GMA)

Pilot: Thomas Clark

The weather gods seem to have heeded our pleas and Tuesday dawned bright and clear with almost no wind, providing perfect waterbird counting conditions!

We set our bearings for Kingston and Narracoorte to count a series of coastal lagoons and freshwater lakes, and had to hit the ground running. We were in for a busy morning with many of the lakes supporting thousands of Grey Teal Chestnut Teal, Mountain Duck, Black Ducks and smaller numbers of shoveller, Pied Stilts, Black Swans and coot.

Coastal Lagoon (salt spray fogged the lens)

A Melaleuca swamp near the southern Coorong

After refueling at Narracoorte we headed to Bool Lagoon where we were treated to thousands of birds (mostly Grey Teal) and also hundreds of Mapgpie Geese, many of them nesting. 

Surveying Bool Lagoon

From Bool Lagoon we crossed to the lakes around the southern Coorong and counted thousands of Banded Stilts, Chestnut Teal, Grey Teal, Hardhead and Pink-eared Ducks. We hadn’t seen such concentrations for a while and the counting was fast and furious!