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Date: Tuesday October 15th 2024

Project:ÌýEastern Australian Waterbird Survey

°¿²ú²õ±ð°ù±¹±ð°ù²õ: John Porter (NSW DPE), Paul Wainwright (SA DEW)

°Õ°ù²¹¾±²Ô±ð±ð: Scott Henshall (Vic GMA)

±Ê¾±±ô´Ç³Ù: Thomas Clark

The weather serves us up a mixed bag today with rain showers hampering visibility for short periods but then clearing to provide excellent waterbird counting conditions!

As we track along the coastline we pass a groups of hardworking wind turbines – unsurprisingly they look a bit weatherbeaten in this harsh locationÌý

Wind turbines behind the dunes

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Enroute to Lake Bonney

Navigation in progress

After refueling at Portland we surveyed a series of large coastal lagoons including Lakes Bonney and George. Some of the lakes supported thousands of Grey Teal, Chestnut Teal, Mountain Duck, Pacific Black Ducks, Black Swans and smaller numbers of Australasian Shoveller, Hardhead, Pied Stilts and Eurasian Coot.

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Lake Bonney

After refuelling at Narracoorte we headed back north towards the southern Coorong – many of wetlands in this area were drying back or dry; those with water had moderate numbers (hundreds) of birds - mostly Grey Teal, Chestnut Teal, Black Duck, Australasian Shoveler, Mountain Duck and Black Swans.

We head back to Narracoorte, our final stop for day.