2 walks

Panboola Wetlands

On 14 December we went to Merimbula to get a few supplies unavailable in Mallacoota.  We decided to call in at the Panboola Wetlands (at Pambula) to see what was around.  This is the route we followed.

The sculpture at the entrance is most impressive.

So was the Flying Fox camp in the first area we walked through.  At least several thousand bats in the colony at point 1 in the route image.

It was as last time amusing to get to the bird hide and find it to be totally overgrown with weeds.  They seem to do a reasonable job of mowing paths but make no effort to control the reeds thus defeating the purpose of the place.

A further problem arose at point 2 where the track for the return leg of the loop was very indistinct.  We were following the brochure and were sort of able to work out where to go, bus a small sign would seem to be needed.  

Moving along we came to an openable gate, with a path (3) apparently going in the right direction.  Unfortunately at the end of the path, by some sheds was a locked gate (4) which we had to climb.  No biggie, but the mown track we followed was not on the map.  The solution is simple: another small sign at the river end of track 3.

It was pretty warm and the are surprisingly dry so we found few birds.  Given the impressive opening, and the work done in keeping the paths mown its a pity the visit was stuffed up by the lack to two signs, possibly costing $10 each.

Goat Island

A friend recently told me of being able to get to Goat Island with only a shallow wade at low tide.  As the tide on 15 December was about as low as it gets (0.02m) we decided to have a go.  Our route is shown as the blue line in this map from eBird.  The yellow line is the approximate position of the main channel down Harrisons and out to the sea and the green line a minor channel towards the wharf.

As I said, the tide was low.

Something stirred up the flock of terns and gulls.  They reminded me a bit of the videos of murmurations of Starlings, although only about 500 birds, rather then several thousand, in this flock.

Here is the minor channel looking out to sea..  It was, as suggested by my friend, only calf deep.

Here is a section of the tern flock.  I spent several minutes peering at them from about 100m distance trying to find a specimen that wasn't a Crested Tern.  No luck.  I then peered closely at my photographs and again had no luck.  

There were 4 Little Terns flying around but not seeming to show any inclination to build nest sites either of the sea-side dunes or the island.

A couple of Ravens channeled their inner Cormorant.

A lone Eastern Curlew was spotted.  My guess is that the bill length is more like that of a male, rather than the female usually seen here.

This group of Australian Pied Oystercatchers were very noisy and appeared to be displaying.  on looking at the image 2 of them have flags, but I didn't get the numbers.

It is easy to tell where the tern flock have been!  As we were leaving a fisherperson headed out towards but instead of flying off, the flock shifted about 25 m and settled down again!

A shellfish of some description burrowing into the mud.

These canoeists battled up the minor channel, in which they a located in the image, but decided to pull their vessel back over the sand back towards the wharf.

Lotsa kelp on the beach ...

.. but not much diversity.