I arrived at the edge of Lake Burley Griffin a little later than planned this morning. My intent was to try to photograph some cormorants and, perhaps, a darter I often see at the lake's shore on my bike rides to work. Unfortunately, they were not around this morning, maybe because there were already fisherman at the spot or maybe they were just not there this morning. I decided not to waste my time at that spot so I moved a bit further around the lake. I am glad I did shift along as I found far more birdlife. Unfortunately, it was a challenging morning for photographing as the sun was often blocked by clouds. That further reduced the light getting to the area I was at, which was already having trouble with the light because of the tress. Despite that, I enjoyed being at the lake's edge. There were rowing boats out on the lake and cyclists regularly passing on the bike paths. The birds were out and I only wished the sun had been out as well. I hope you like the photographs.
As I said in the introduction, I had driven to the lake this morning hoping I would be able to photograph a number of cormorants of different species I often see there. This morning I did not see them at the spot they regularly sun themselves. I did see some fisherman near that part of the shore so I suspected the birds may have gone on. When I arrived at the second location I did see three Little Pied Cormorants perched on a dead tree standing at the lake's edge. Before I could get my camera in position two of them flew off but the remaining one stayed put for a little while. From their high position in a tree at that time of day and their skittish behaviour, I wonder if some fisherman may be frightening them off as the birds may be going after the bait or even the fish being caught. When the cormorants did fly off they went to some more trees across the small bay where I was. One of them later returned to the original tree but the moment I showed interest in it, the bird took to the wing again, and was joined by a second cormorant. They then flew off further down the lake.
The area I was standing in was alive with Welcome Swallows. They were swooping, turning, diving and just showing why they are such good flyers. They were drinking water occasionally by skimming across the lake's surface but that was too hard to photograph. They would perch on a branch of a dead tree but as I started approaching they would start flying again. I think they may have been eating some. of the small flying insects in the reeds based on some of the small objects in the photographs below. I did try to track their flying with my camera but I was having no luck. I then decided to stay still so as to photograph them as they flew into the camera's field of view. I knew the light was not there for a fast shutter speed and a high f stop but I thought I would try it. The photographs are not great but the slight blurring of the flying birds adds to the sense of action caught by the camera. I cannot wait to try it again but in better lighting.
While standing, watching the aerobatics of the Welcome Swallows I saw two flights of three birds, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, fly from the south side of the lake over the north and keep flying. Of a morning I often hear them in the pines of the National Arboretum so I wonder if they may have been heading there. The photos are still not great but I am not too disappointed with the outcome hence why one is heading this post.
There were also a number of Eurasian Coot around the location but they did not want me to get too close.
There was a single Purple Swamphen at the second location I stopped at then two more where I made a brief visit to on my way home. All of them were feeding although there were no obvious nests.