Back to Tarzali Lakes
An Australasian Grebe at the Lakes.
This weekend my wife wanted something a little less stressful for our Sunday outing together so we decided to go to Tarzali Lakes for lunch. I had the fish pie for lunch and can highly recommend it. It is more an open pie than a traditional pie, did not look like what I was expecting but it was delicious!
After lunch when we headed down to the Lakes and we were greeted by this Australasian Grebe. The white feathers on the water are from the Intermediate Egrets that are nesting there at the moment but I will get to them later.
The Australasian Grebe is extremely shy and it was not long before it started making its way away from me out to the middle of the lake. That was okay as the main attraction of Tarzali Lakes was now on the scene.
The closest I got to a Platypus that day.
The previous time I went to Tarzali my wife was not with me and I got what I would consider some once in a lifetime photos of a Platypus. The other time I had been there with my wife we never saw a Platypus.
Anticipating a good day
So even though this day did not turn out as great my wife was very happy to watch that Platypus play off in the distance for a short time. Above is a link to what I think was my first ever visit to Tarzali during which we never got to see a Platypus…..and the owner told us it would be unlikely as they were nesting.
Out in the rain....like a duck...or duck like creature
You can view the photos I got of a Platypus on the previous visit in the blog post above. To get such wonderful photos in terrible weather was a real surprise.
Like most of our visits to places we slowed down. We were at the Lakes for nearly three hours that day and saw two Platypus despite being there at the worst time of the day for viewing them, midday. Many that dropped in for a short period of time saw none.
The creators of all those white feathers on Tarzali Lakes.
Back to all those white feathers on the top of the lakes. They are from the Egrets that are nesting there at the moment. I believe this bird above is an Intermediate Egret morphing between its breeding and non breeding plumage.
The lacy like feathers on the chest and back are the birds nuptial plumage. When breeding the legs turn yellow and the facial skin a bluey green. I see a little bit of yellow at the top of the legs and a touch of green in the face..……or I might be wrong and this is a Cattle Egret but the neck looks too long for me and the bird overall too big.
Enjoying a small fish.
The Intermediate Egrets walk in the shallows and dart their beaks out to catch insects, small fish and other water life. This one had just caught a small fish and was throwing it up to swallow it.
Dragonflies mating.
Birds were not the only creature breeding there on this visit. On previous visits to Tarzali I have seen much more colourful dragonflies but I have never taken a photo of dragonflies mating.
Pacific Black Ducks nesting.
It is no surprise to see the most common of ducks the Pacific Black at Tarzali Lakes but the setting makes even them look pretty. Especially at the moment you will likely see the resident White Bellied Sea Eagle that wants to eat the platypus. You may also see Swamphens, Buff-banded Rail, Little Kingfisher, Spotted Drongo and many other bird species.
Yes, I am going to plug them again - The Australian Platypus Park at Tarzali Lakes
With the absence of overseas tourism now is a great time to go and support locals like The Australian Platypus Park. It costs about $7 IIRC and if I did not see a platypus I was told I did not have to pay….and did I mention the food is great!