Bird Survey 30 August 2024

We had three surveyors on a very windy morning, with high water levels. Starting at Park Street bridge and looking west, we found just 4 birds, all looking a bit lonely. Numbers picked up when we looked east with good counts of Chestnut Teal and Dusky Moorhens - these seemed to spend a lot of their time swimming in and out of the reeds, perhaps the beginning of breeding. Little Black Cormorant numbers were boosted by a group of 8 that flew over us at Griffin Road. It was good to see 3 Australasian Swamphens - these have been very scarce for a few years now. There were few birds to be seen either side of Griffin Road bridge, perhaps the combined influence of strong winds roughing the water surface, and the high water level. The total of 44 birds was a significant gain on last month's count of a paltry 26.

The count

Little Black Cormorant    12

Chestnut Teal                  8

Pacific Black Duck           2

White-faced Heron           1

Australasian Swamphen  3

Eurasian Coot                  4

Dusky Moorhen               14

Total                               44

The next survey will be on Friday 27 September.

Little Black Cormorants (with Silver Gull)

Little Black Cormorants are regular visitors to the lagoon, often in small flocks. They are sometimes seen swimming together and diving for fish, their main food. They do not breed on the lagoon, but they do breed, along with other Cormorants and Darters, at nearby Manly Lagoon.