Visited: late dry season
Recommendation: The lake is a huge feature of Kununurra and it is well worth exploring everywhere around it both during the day and the night.
I very much liked the town of Kununurra and I tried to stay in various different caravan parks just to get a taste of the different environments around the town. One of my favourites was by the lake. Although it is possible to visit different spots around the lake, which I tried, I had most success at the caravan park, particularly at night. Spotlighting gave me some really good results, including this lovely (depending on your point of view) snake. I am still not sure if it is a Keelback or King Brown Snake. Regardless, I gave it a wide berth!
I'd been warned that there were Freshwater Crocodiles in the lake and it was only as I was walking past some trees along the lake and I happened to look down to the water and there was this beautiful freshie. It was just sitting there looking at me curiously. I got some photographs and it decided it was one flash too many and away it went.
Freshwater Crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni)
Also around the lake at night were some Black Fruit Bats. The mangoes were ripe at the time that I was visiting, so they were very busy chomping down on them.
Black Fruit Bat (Pteropus alecto)
In the reeds lining the lake I found a spider. It was sitting on a huge egg sack and as I looked closer I could see that there were very tiny baby spiders coming out of that egg sack. It was a little bit gross but also very cool at the same time.
I saw several Tawny Frogmouths as well sitting and then hunting. It's always good to see them and they are usually very co-operative photography subjects.
Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)
During the day I would go down to the dam and there is a series of parks, rest areas and just dirt patches alongside the western end of the dam. Not only did they provide beautiful views of the dam, but there was always interesting things flitting about down on the water. Every time I stopped here, pelicans were perched on the rocks. I've never actually seen pelicans hunt in this way. They were sitting on the rocks watching the fish go by waiting to pounce I guess. An osprey stood on the concrete part of the dam and it was really interesting to watch him trying to walk. It was like his claws were absolutely getting in the way.
Crimson Finch (Neochmia phaeton)
Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)
Australasian Osprey (Pandion haliaetus cristatus)