The weekend of 2-4 October 2021 was a long weekend in Canberra with a public holiday on the Monday for Labour Day. It was also the Sunday morning where Daylight Saving Time started so clocks were put forward one hour. The effect was that we all lost an hour of sleep and for the following month the sun will appear to be catching up to when it was rising before as it gets incrementally earlier each day. I was fortunate to be able to go paddling on both Saturday and Monday, with most of my sitings occurring on Saturday due to the then extra hour of daylight I had when I started my paddle before Daylight Saving Time commenced. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed being out on Lake Burley Griffin both days but I will be waiting for the light to return to the same time when I start my paddle. Still, spring was upon the city, with so much birdlife active on the lake. Many of my favourites such as cormorants, darters and pelicans were out as were the seasonal Australian Reed Warblers. With COVID lockdown restrictions eased the lake was getting busier but there was still enough birdlife around to make the paddle a truly enjoyable experience, especially coming around an island to see an Australasian Darter beautifully posed on an isolated branch. Roll on spring and summer, I am looking forward to the birds and other life being active again. I hope that you like the photographs below.
More of this story is on my blog at https://bit.ly/3ajQbrk
Australasian Darter female calling from a branch
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Fog rolling over Black Mountain
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 320, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
A paddler on a surf ski enjoying the lake
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 640, 400mm, f/10 and 1/800 SEC])
Little Black Cormorant sitting on the barrier restricting waterside access to Scrivener Dam
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Head shot of a beautiful Black Swan
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1250, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Great Cormorants, white face in the centre and larger head sixth bird from left, swimming with Little Black Cormorants
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 800, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Swamp Wallaby on a pile of cut trees on Springbank Island keeping a watch on me
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 800, 400mm, f/7.1 and 1/400 SEC])
Australasian Darter female
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 500, 400mm, f/7.1 and 1/400 SEC])
Australasian Darter juvenile swimming, note the less distinct colours around the head
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1600, 400mm, f/7.1 and 1/400 SEC])
Australian Pelican yawning
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 200, 400mm, f/7.1 and 1/400 SEC])
Silver Gull flying low over the water
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 6400, 400mm, f/10 and 1/800 SEC])
Over a three-day long weekend I enjoyed two lovely paddles on the wonderful Lake Burley Griffin. I was able to see and photograph some of the wonderful birds that call it home, as well as just enjoying being outside in what was a reasonably safe place during these strange pandemic times. I hope the repeated posts on Lake Burley Griffin are not too boring but I always enjoy the experience of being on the lake and the birds are always so wonderful.
Thanks for reading this post and thanks also for looking at my photos. I hope you come back again to read more about some of the wonderful natural things that the Australian Capital Territory has on offer. All the best until the next post.
