Bundaberg - Baldwin Swamp

A Lewin's Honeyeater having a healthy breakfast

Baldwin Swamp Environmental Park is a network of ponds and canals covering an area of about 77 hectares.  

Before European settlers came to the area it was home to the Bunda people. The name Bundaberg is derived from the aboriginal word 'Bunda' meaning tribe, and the saxon 'burg' meaning town.







When Bundaberg was first settled, the springs in this area provided the water supply.

In 1902, a water tower was built to provide reticulated water.  It is a masterpiece of bricklaying, with walls up to 1.4m thick and a height of 36.6m. It stored 40 000 gallons when in use. It is now heritage listed.

Ian and I were expecting a swamp, riddled with mangroves midgies and mosquitos, along with lots of bird life, however, it turned out to be a well kept area with barbecues, playgrounds, lots of paths, a huge shelter shed which you could hire and hold functions, especially if you got married in the Bush Chapel.








Although the mangroves were absent, there was a lot of bird life, and we weren't disappointed by the lack of mosquitos either.



 


















I've always wanted to photograph a frog on a lily pad, but I've never seen one to photograph.  Ian found this little fellow in the grass and after I'd had a good look at hime, he kindly deposited him on the lily so I could get my photo.

He didn't stay there long though.

It was quite a hot day.  This pelican and turtle were having a race in the shade.  

After a photo finish, I decided it was a draw since neither of them had moved.









We left the well tended path and went into the untidy area of the park.  That's where you usually find the good stuff.  I wasn't long before we heard the high pitched twitter of Fairywrens.  These Red-backed Fairywrens are one of my favourites. Ian took these photos.  The plucky fellow in the photo below has a little bug in his beak.  He's telling Ian to keep his beady little eyes off it.

A little further down the track we come across a Little Egret, feeding along the bank of a causeway.  His breeding plumage consists of two long slender plumes on the back of his head, along with the lacy plumes on his tail and breast.

He poses for us so we can get a better look.

On the other side of the causeway, the lilies and pond weed thicken.  A Pacific Black Duck struggles through in case we have something for it to eat.  We don't.

We come to an area of thickly vined forest and wonder whether we should start laying a trail of bread crumbs.

On closer inspection, the vines are actually climbing ferns.


















We find more good stuff as we venture deeper into the less popular area of the park. The mosquitos find more good stuff as we venture into their area.

A Nankeen Night Heron hesitates long enough for us to get a photo before he disappears into the thickets.  He is also wearing his courtship clothes.













The stick like camouflage let down this poor stick insect today as he became lunch. 

A bee goes in search of a vacant lily. It finds one already occupied, but there's room for two.








Back to the more civilised areas of lawns and playgrounds, we find some Black Swans gracing the lake. 

Now these beautiful birds seem to spend their time floating serenely around parkland lakes, like living ornaments but they could seem otherwise boring as you never seem to see them doing much else, so I thought  I would see what google had to offer on the subject and I found some interesting facts in Wikipedia.

They were once thought to be sedentary, but are in actual fact nomadic.  They'll follow areas of rainfall, sometimes quite deep into the interior of the continent.  If the wet conditions don't last, they'll leave again, abandoning their eggs and chicks.


Mostly they are monogamous, however, there is about a 6% divorce rate. About a third of all broods exhibit extra paternity.

About 25% of pairings are homosexual, usually male.  They steal nests or form temporary threesomes with a female, driving her away after she lays the eggs.

After hatching, the cygnets are cared for until they fledge at around 9 months.  Before this, the parents may carry them on their backs for longer distances into deep water.


Back to our anchorage in the Burnett River, we wait for good weather to take us to Fraser Island.  

The view takes on different hues, according to the time of the day.  

We watch a Brahminy Kite family go about its daily activities, which consists of sitting on branches and fishing.

Fishing?  How's the fishing going?  Well, after watching countless torpedo like fish leaping out of the water all around us but not catching them, Ian went to the fishing shop.  The salesman recommended a fail proof lure and Ian fell for it hook, line and sinker.  The fish didn't.

A couple of mornings later, while Ian was sleeping in, I decided to have a go.

The next thing "IAN, IAN, QUICK, I GOT A FISH", which translates to "IAN, IAN, QUICK, I GOT A FISH AND I WANT YOU TO GET IT OFF THE HOOK FOR ME".

Ian leaps out into the cockpit in time to see the fish get itself off the hook and try to escape through the cockpit drains.  Bravely, he grabbed it by the tail and got it back.  I would have just let it go, it had large sharp teeth.

Here I am, still in my nighty with my catch.  Its pretty harmless by now but I didn't take any risks and held it by its tail.

It was a beautiful looking fish if you didn't look at its teeth.

We ate it for lunch.  Unfortunately, it had to many bones in it to be enjoyable.

Oh, and Grants Fish Guide says its a Hairtail.

Bundaberg Botanical Gardens

Eucalypt in flower

After catching up on shopping and other logistics in Bundaberg, it was time to see what attractions were about which may harbour items of nature -  such as birds, plants and animals.

There were two such places, first was the Botanical Gardens and next was the Baldwin Swamp.

Today we had decided on the Botanical Gardens.  Conveniently, it was in walking distance for us, so, armed with cameras and sunscreen, we set off.

As we got closer, we noticed that there seemed to be quite a number of Cattle Egrets and White Ibises flying overhead.  This slowed us down somewhat, as it gave us numerous opportunities to photograph them flying. 

Finally we reached the outskirts of the gardens, and the epicentre of the breeding colony of Egrets and Ibises.

There was a large stand of bamboo and She Oaks, bowing under the weight of hundreds of nests, all occupied by chicks, eggs and adults.  

Nearby, was a rotunda on top of a small hill, which gave us a perfect viewing area to take photos.

Usually Cattle Egrets are seen in paddocks, serenely picking at the insects disturbed by the hooves of cattle and horses.

Come breeding season and that all changes.  They develop a golden hue to their normally white head and neck.  Their plumage tends to stand erect most of the time, as they defend their small piece of arboreal real-estate, giving them a most ferocious look.

The nests are an untidy gathering of sticks, supporting one or two ferocious looking chicks.     

Sibling rivalry is fierce between the chicks and sometimes one is the winner.  Things don't look good for the little chap above, as he sits at the base of the tree, trying to pretend he isn't there.

Everywhere we go, there is more life. Water Dragons get fat, as they feast on carelessly laid eggs, fallen to the ground.  

I've often heard the saying 'flat out like a lizard drinking' but this is the first time I've seen it.






Swimming is a favourite past time of Water Dragons along with eating eggs.

The one below watches us eat lunch, wondering if we have anything to offer which will give him a change from eggs.

As far as gardens go, we saw nothing really remarkable about the flora. Everything was neat and tidy, but it was the lakes which made it spectacular.  The wildlife was prolific where-ever we went.  

A Sugar Cane railway provided coal-fired steam loco rides for the family around the perimeter of the gardens.

There was a large bat colony in residence at the gardens.  Every time the loco went past the colony, it gave a shrill toot of its whistle.  This caused much consternation among the bats as the all took off at once, flew a couple of laps around their trees, before landing once again to try to get some sleep.

They would finally decide it was safe to come back as the train disappeared into the distance

then regroup and get settled for some sleep, at which point the cane train would come and blow its whistle all over again.

No wonder there was so much life around. Where-ever you looked, something was mating.  I spared you the photo of the bats mating because it was a bit naughty, but I thought the ducks were quite funny.  It seems that the male duck has to half drown the female before he can do the deed. He also has a helper on standby in case things get a bit out of hand.

Lucky she has good flotation and pops back up to the surface.  

These ducks are quite common all around Australia.  They are called Pacific Black Ducks.

Although they are quite an ordinary brown colour, they have beautiful holographic wing panels (as do many other ducks) which change from a brilliant green to brilliant purple, with many colours in between, depending on the angle of light.

While watching some ducks and other water fowl, I noticed some little blobs in the water which seemed to change position.  At first I thought they may have been some pods fallen off a tree.  On closer inspection, they turned out to be turtles.  

We left our turtle book at home but we think they are Krefft's River Turtle.  The more we looked, the more we saw. As we looked into the murky depths of the lake, we found eels, weaving their way between the myriad of turtle bodies.

Ha, and there was even a sign on the banks of the lake, forbidding swimming.  The sign explained it was dangerous as the water was deep.  Judging from the amount of lizards, turtles, eels and birdlife on and in the water, I doubt that anyone would be tempted.

Back to the birds with these two Ibises, looking quite striking in their breeding plumage of lacy black tail feathers and a spiky white collar.  You can see the stripes of red skin at the top of its head.  Of course, females find this irresistible.

As we round the next corner, we found a small group of Australian Wood Ducks, claiming a little bay in the corner of the lake.  Their behaviour was kept in check by the big boss.  

While the ladies and lesser males were minding their own business and happily floating around on the water, this fellow strutted around with his chest puffed out, just so they wouldn't forget who the boss was.

Every now and then he interrupted his pose in order to chase one of the others who looked like they might have been up to no good.


Finally, he looked downright ridiculous as he decided that if he stretched his neck up as far as it would go so he could look even more fearsome.

We came across a couple of clues that we were getting close to another breeding colony.








With so many birds all nesting so close to each other, sticks for nest building were at a premium.  This Intermediate Egret struggled with this oversized stick for some time before he was able to launch himself with it as an offering to his waiting mate.

An unattached male, sits in a tree, trying to look his best. 

 I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I did taking them.  The  resolution is downsized (as usual) for your data conservation which takes a bit of quality away.

Our next outing after this was the Baldwin Swamp.  Ian and I love swamps.

See you soon.