Lake Wallace near Lithgow in NSW is a good place to see rare ducks and Great Crested Grebes. Over this summer there has been a deficit in duck numbers on the east coast of NSW and last week there were only a few ducks on Lake Wallace. But these included Blue-billed Ducks, Musk Ducks, Australian Wood Ducks and Hardheads, making my stopover there worthwhile as always.
There were numerous Great Crested Grebes on the lake, most of them like this one were accompanied by one or more juvenile chicks.
This Great Crested Grebe chick is well camouflaged against the lake in its juvenile colours.
There were two Blue-billed Ducks lurking in dense vegetation at the lake shore and emerging every now and then for a photo. In a particular light, these blue bills show almost fluorescent light blue colour, highly visible through the reeds.
The reeds were also alive with Australian Reed-Warblers flying back and forth.
Lake Wallace is popular inland holiday spot with campers and caravanners who can park close to the lake. A beautiful place on a crisp summer’s day like that of last week.