Embedded Files
Visited: summer
Recommendation: This is a great time to visit this wonderful lake. With low rainfall across the area, the lake attracts thousands of waterbirds.
Bibra Lake is an incredible natural resource in southern Perth. Parking is at the Wetland Centre and on arriving, you are struck by how committed the local community must be to preserving and developing this area to enable native animals to flourish. The Beeliar people, the traditional custodians of the land, have a deep connection to Bibra Lake, known to them as Walliabup. The lake was named after Benedict von Bibra, an early settler who acquired land in the area in 1843. Von Bibra recognized the potential of the area for agriculture and established a successful farm.
Bibra Lake is part of the Beeliar Regional Park, a network of wetlands that are vital for biodiversity and conservation. There are other, smaller lakes nearby and plenty of woodland walking tracks between them. You could spend some considerable time in this area. I visited in mid-summer and there had been very little rainfall in recent months meaning that the lake itself was quite low but still attracted lots of waterbirds as other water sources have dried up.
On checking eBird, I had seen that some incredible birds have been seen here. Australian, Spotless and Baillon's Crakes were all being seen regularly in the days before I arrived. This is a really good time of year to see crakes as water hole dry up and they are forced out of the depth of the reed beds and out into the open.
There are 2 hides at the lake, both just a few minutes walk from the Wetland Centre car park. I started at the northern end where there water had receded from leaving exposed a large area of mud. The surrounding reed beds and bush provided nothing as I scoured them. Until I looked south and saw a pair of Spotless Crakes foraging at the margins of the reeds.
They were really far off but it was obvious from the shots other people had been getting that if you were prepared to get a little muddy, better photos could be had. I was satisfied with seeing them. I also didn't have time to return to look for the other crakes.
Spotless Crake (Porzana tabuensis)
This part of the lake was worth coming to. The hide floats when the water is higher and as the birds seemed to stick to large, loose species groups in different areas, you may well see something else from other parts of the area. Hunting over the mud were swallows and martins, in the reeds were fantails, fairywren and honeyeaters.
The other hide was further south, about half way down the lake. There is a short boardwalk to it and I'm sure I heard more crakes in the reeds around it. Approaching the water gave my first good hit here - a Glossy Ibis. I managed to get a shot off but gee, it was skittish and disappeared pretty quickly. What a stunning bird. I saw it again later on the western side and it was no more obliging there! Still, I think I can be satisfied with this shot.
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)
The next find were a group of feeding Yellow-billed Spoobill in front of the hide. There were adults and juveniles and I darted into the hide quickly as they can be pretty skittish too. I even got one flying in, which I was pretty pleased to get. My Nikon P1000 isn't really good enough for birds in flight but when the conditions are good, it sometimes performs!
Yellow-billed Spoonbill (Platalea flavipes)
After the excitement of seeing the ibis and spoonbills close up, I settled down to see what else was on the water. There were huge numbers of Grey Teal, Pied Stilt and Eurasian Coots here, so it was challenging to pick out any other species.
Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)
White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae)
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
Pied Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
Amongst the Pied Stilts were a handful of Red-necked Avocet. It was really lovely to see them swimming while fishing. They looked stunning against the very blue water.
Red-necked Avocet (Recurvirostra novaehollandiae)
There were probably the most Australasian Shovelers I have ever seen in Australia, with around 30 of them that I could see. They are easily distinguished from the other ducks, not only by the oversized bill but they also swim very low in the water. I tried to photograph them with their heads out of the water obviously and it was interesting to catch the female (left) and male (right) both still with that sheen of water over their heads.
Australasian Shoveler (Anas rhynchotis)
A lone Australian Shelduck was on the lake and every now and then it would emit a rather mournful honk. I saw it again on the western side later, looking every bit as lonely.
Also on the western side were some Musk Ducks. Against the light they were very dark but you can identify them as their tails stick straight up - not to mention that crazy looking facial disc under the chin!
Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides)
Musk Duck (Biziura lobata)
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse