Brown Swamp and Gherang Gherang – Saturday 8 June 2024

It was a good day for birdwatching weatherwise – lights winds and mostly sunny.

Brown Swamp is around 25km north of Anglesea.  When we arrived it was misty (see below) but it brightened up over the course of the morning.

Brown Swamp

There is not a lot of water in the swamp at the moment, and the water is limited to a small area in the northern half of the swamp.  We walked around the edge of the swamp area where it is soft but not too muddy.

Bird highlights included White-fronted Chats, Black-fronted Dotterels, Australian Shelducks, White-headed (Pied) Stilts, Red-capped Plovers and Golden-headed Cisticolas – see full list with counts below.

Shelducks flying

Pied Stilt

There were also some ‘bush’ birds.  It’s a great spot for birdwatching, and good for photography although the Spur-winged Plovers scared the other birds away when they considered we were too close.  There were also a big mob of kangaroos following our progress.

We had some morning tea on the edge of the swamp.

On the way home, we dropped in at Gherang Gherang Bushland Reserve.  We walked along the path at the northern boundary of the park.  A nice walk but a bit quiet in terms of birds.  We did see a pair of Scarlet Robins up-close.

Scarlet Robin

A really enjoyable day of birdwatching and many great photos.

 James Orton

Bird List – Brown Swamp

The table below shows the names and count of birds seen at Brown Swamp.  This list is from eBird.

Bird List – Gherang Gherang Bushland Reserve

The table below shows the names and count of birds seen at Gherang Gherang Bushland Reserve.  This list is from eBird.

Photos
Courtesy of Conrad White: Brown Swamp, Pied Stilt
Courtesy of Paul Wright: Shelducks flying, Scarlet Robin