Long Jetty

Long Jetty is on the south eastern side of Tuggerah Lake, which is fed by the small gap known as The Entrance. There are pathways along the lake and lots of green areas and beaches. Despite the traffic, it is quite beautiful.

Visited: Winter

Recommendation: The area around Long Jetty is fabulous to walk. The coastline is stunning and as well as providing a really good range of water birds, there are thick patches of trees for parrots and bush birds to nest in as well as nocturnal hunters after dark.

Striated Heron (Butorides striata)

Walking south along the lake there are several jetties and boat launches. They provided us with much amusement as there were lots of water birds that got very excited when any boats arrived or left. In quieter areas, herons, cormorants and darters combed the shore. Our first find was one such shy heron, the striated. They are very small and usually perched head down over water as they hunt.

At the first boat ramp we came across pelican were eagerly awaiting the boats. We think most of them were youngsters as they lacked the strong marking on the face of the adults. While we waited we saw many circling and dashing into land when they thought food might be available.

Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)

Male Chestnut Teal (Anas castanea)

Perching quietly on the railings of the boat ramp were some Chestnut Teal. Normally shy, they were very tolerant of us and let us approach and photograph them for quite some time. Obviously used to people being around.

They are a small dabbling duck, reaching a length of up to 50 cm and weighing around 650 grams. Males are distinctive for their glossy green head, chestnut brown neck, breast, and flanks. Their upper body and wings are dark brown, and they have a black undertail with a contrasting white patch. Females are more mottled brown and grey overall, with a pale throat streaked with brown and a dark eye stripe. Both sexes have deep red eyes, a blue-grey bill, and green-grey legs and feet. Their wings have a dark glossy green to purple speculum (panel) edged with white.

Female Chestnut Teal

On our first night in Long Jetty, we stayed at the caravan park in Long Jetty and were awoken by the unmistakeable but very gentle call of the Tawny Frogmouth. One advantage of being in a campervan is that you get to be out and about in the night if you need the loo! It was this that caused me to look behind us for our early alarm call and to my surprise, there they were sitting on the fence behind the van. Magic!

Even better than that, we went looking for them again later in our stay and found them just across the road in the low trees. They were very patient and let us get very close again. The male is always grey but the female in these more southern parts is grey or more brown. Not sure why, but I think this may be a young female.

Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)