20190324-MMPI0053 - Lake Eden
On Sunday 24th March 2019 I travelled to Lake Eden at North Lakes, a northern suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. An interesting birding location, being a young suburb built around a natural lake. Lots of people on the path around the lake early each morning, walking, running, riding with families and their dogs. I've found everyone to be very friendly here after several visits, and importantly eveyone has been respectful of me photographing the wildlife (which isn't the case everywhere I visit). Despite being early Autumn, the temperatures in Brisbane have remained quite unseasonably warm and this morning was hot quite early. I counted over 40 bird species on this morning, with Little Wattlebirds and Little Friarbirds, Crested Pigeons, Australasian Swamphens and an Australiasian Pelican being my main photo subjects. I was unable to capture photos of the three Kingfisher species I saw this morning, those being Sacred, Forest and Azure Kingfishers which were fantastic to find at such a busy suburban lake area. My standout for the day was a bird I had not seen before (a lifer) - the Buff-banded Rail. This secretive bird appeard briefly while I was lying in wait for the Forest Kingfisher to return; it saw me and returned to reeds for cover. I decided to lie in wait for it to return, and after ten minutes hangin out with some young Swamphens for company (which was good fun), the Rail returned long enough for me to get some water-level shots of this beautifully-patterned bird. That made for a successful morning for me, and as usual after a bird outing I returned home with a smile on my face; birding is good for health and happiness I reckon.
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