A visit to Lake McLarty, 21st Nov 2019

It seems appropriate that my first blog post should be about Lake McLarty, a site I have visited many times over the last 20 years. It is situated about an hour's drive south of Perth, on Mills road east just off the Forrest Highway.

View from southern end of the lake

Once the jewel in the crown of southwest Western Australian wader watching, it is still one of my favourite birding spots!

Although the lake has been ravaged by the effects of climate change compounded by bad management, there is a rescue plan in place, though even the most optimistic forecast is that it will take at least a decade before the lake is anywhere near it's former glory. Despite all these problems, the lake is still one of the best places for wader watching during the summer months until it dries up.

The forecast of a top temperature today of only 23c (compared to recent temps in the high 30's or low 40's) seems ideal for a visit. I arrived at 6:45am, a bit later than I usually do and was pleased to see that the water had receded enough from it's winter peak for there to be some muddy edges. I was, as hoped, immediately greeted by a good sized flock of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Curlew Sandpipers.

Mixed flock of waders

Luckily the water was shallow enough for me to wade along the southern edge of the lake, it was still early enough in the day that the Stubble Quail were calling and a couple of Shining Bronze-cuckoo was singing away in the adjacent woodland. The eastern shoreline was a hive of activity with hundreds of feeding Pied Stilts accompanied by a few Common Greenshank. 

Pied Stilts

Five Cattle Egrets flew overhead and landed in a nearbly tree, this species used to be rare in sw WA but recently it has become a far more common sight, the birds looked splendid in their breeding plumage.

Cattle Egrets in flight

 Scanning the Sharp-tailed Sandpipers through my scope I managed to find one of it's rarer cousin, a Pectoral Sandpiper. It's always a good challenge to separate these two species especially when they are skulking around in the long grass. I didn't find any Long-toed Stints but I'm confident they'll show up later in the season. As I walked northwards along the shoreline the depth of the water increased, prevented any further progress so I retraced my steps back towards the entrance gate. A couple of Regent Parrots flew over calling as well as a flock of noisy Little Corellas. 

Sharp-tailed Sandpipers

On my return journey, I managed to get close enough to the Sharpies to a reasonable photo and also came across a Pacific Heron and Great Egret feeding in the flooded grass.

Pacific Heron and Great Egret

I arrived back at my car having spent a thoroughly enjoyable 3 hours at the lake, seeing a total of 60 species.

My ebird checklist