Pelicans and Parties

  Today started with a magnificent dawn. The aim for the day was the major target for the holiday. The Currawinya lakes actually have names but that probably is not greatly important. The two big ones are only about 4km apart but one is fresh and the other is salt. The freshwater one boasts the larger number of species, but the salt lake in its current form with plenty of water is completely stocked with water birds.

The salt lake dries often, but after such a good season it fills and birds, including black swans and pelicans arrive in numbers to breed. Pelicans are normally thought of as sea birds, but they only breed in a very limited number of inland areas and so are dependent on wetlands for their ongoing survival.

You get some idea of the numbers of birds when you realise that the “scum” which gathers in the quiet inlets of the lake are in fact mats of discarded feathers. Then you look over and see sandbanks in the lake covered with thousands of birds. You then look up and see gathering clouds of pelicans spiralling up in thermals waiting until they have enough altitude to form up into the great V-shaped squadrons and go on their way.

Whether this is a daily ritual with the birds going off to feed and then returning home, or whether they are flying back to the coast after breeding I can’t be sure. Since I don’t see anything like the same numbers returning home in the evenings I suspect we may be witnessing the departure from the lake as it dries up after the wet. A rare privilege if indeed that is what is happening.

I had assumed with 40km each way of 4WD track that this would take all day but we were back at camp by mid-afternoon for some more local exploration. The bird count for the holiday is I think now up over 70. The major attraction for the afternoon was corellas which appear to be in breeding pairs. I spent a good deal of time watching one pair fussing over a prime location hole in an old tree and while the corellas are in great flocks, Louis has noted that they seem to generally perch and fly in pairs, so I suspect he is right that they are breeding as well.

The evening again found us around the campfire, attracted by the company and a guitar and harmonica-playing almost-grey-nomad. We have discovered that most of our company is from Newcastle, apart from their guests from France.

The surprise for the evening was that one of our French women was having a birthday today so we became part of the festivities. The French champagne was flowing, followed up by some good Hunter reds. I decided you couldn’t have a birthday party without a cake so after dinner I tried my hand at a honey orange cake cooked in the fire in a camp oven. It all disappeared so it must have been ok.

Isabel, not backward in inviting herself onto any instrument, picked up the guitar and with a chord chart, picked out happy birthday, then continued on to Danny Boy. A delightful way to spend the evening.