A visit to Genoa etc

 I decided to go to Genoa on 22 June to check for Cattle Egrets and (being very hopeful) the Emu.  I also went out on the new bridge to check the water level in the River.  Quite a good flow, but still plenty of sand visible.

The BoM shows that water level at the flood gauge (about 12km upstream) is well below any of the flood levels.

My birding started on the far side of the village looking out over the paddocks for the Emu. it wasn't there, and hasn't been seen for some time.  However a pair (making a few judgements about their level of friendliness) of Brown Falcons were perched on the windmill.

After checking the River I crossed the highway and spotted a single Cattle Egret with some Herefords.

Pulling into the gravel patch there were a lot of waterfowl  on the main pool.  I counted 218 Pacific Black Ducks, which was not well received by the eBird tolerance monitor until I put in a comment.  My full checklist is here.  The white breasts of the 33 Masked Lapwings stood out well.

It is not unusual to find a few Australian Shelduck here but a count of 21 was higher than normal.  It seemed that various forms of pair bonding (and aggression between the males) were going on.

On the Sunday I went to the airport.  It was a swamp: I spent quite a bit of time in 4WD on the basis that prophylaxis is more efficient than therapy!  Best bird was a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater on the fence near the terminal.