Lake Wallace en route to Cowra Woodlands Bird Program

On a cold winter’s day it seemed the birds had deserted Lake Wallace on this trip to take part in the Cowra Woodlands Bird Program. Only a few rugged individuals holding on; waiting for spring to arrive.

The Purple Swamphens I normally see are very scatty, rushing off the moment they see me coming, frightening all the other birds at the same time. But here at Lake Wallace instead the Purple Swamphens run towards you, no doubt hoping you will offer them some food.

A solitary Musk Duck was representing the Duck family, supported by a few Pacific Black Ducks in the distance.

A slightly different story for the Eurasian Coots, which have disappeared where I go birding close to the eastern coast. There were scores of Coots around, more than I have seen for quite a while.

Via Lake Wallace

The trip to Cowra for the Cowra Woodlands Bird Program from Sydney through the Blue Mountains always involves a stop off at Lake Wallace, just past Lithgow. The lake is good spot for a rest and lunch as well as a reliable site for water birds. Numbers of water birds were low last month but still a very worthwhile visit.

The spectacular Great-crested Grebes are usually present at Lake Wallace.

As are Australian Wood Ducks.

And Purple Swamphens, in the reeds at Lake Wallace.

Water Birds at Lake Wallace

Lake Wallace is a convenient stop over for lunch on the way from Sydney when travelling out to Cowra to take part in the Cowra Woodland Bird Survey. This lake was formed when the Cox’s River was dammed to feed the Wallerawang Power Station and it has become a reliable spot to see a variety of water birds.

Large numbers of Australian Wood Ducks were at Lake Wallace last week as well as on many farm dams, streams and rivers in the farmlands west of the Blue Mountains. Female on the left, male on the right.

The ungainly male Musk Duck. Musk ducks are often seen at Lake Wallace.

Blue-billed Duck feeding among the reeds at Lake Wallace. In this photo the blue of the bill gives a surreal look to this unusual duck.

A Darter, showing off a very floppy looking foot.

Summer at Lake Wallace

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.

Lake Wallace

Lake Wallace is 10 minutes past Lithgow by car after crossing the Blue Mountains from Sydney. It is a convenient place to stop for lunch on the way to Cowra when I travel to the Cowra Woodland Bird Surveys. The lake is about two kilometers in length and was formed in 1978 when a dam was put across the Coxs River, to provide cooling water for the Wallerawang Power Station. The power station was decommissioned in 2015 and now the lake is a popular camping and caravan destination.

Musk Duck feediing on Lake Wallace

The lake attracts a wide range of water birds and can provide good views of Great Crested Grebes, Blue-billed and Musk Ducks.  There are usually large numbers of ducks but last week I could only find two Musk Ducks and one Hardhead. There were very few ducks on the dams on the way to Cowra and numbers are low in Sydney too. They must have moved to further west?

There were more White-browed Scrubwrens around than normal last week, at Lake Wallace and at Cowra.