Tag Archives: Rocklands Reservoir

I’d never seen so many cormorants in one place before. Earlier, before these photos were taken with the Nikon D3000, the water fairly boiled with the ducking and diving going on as the Great Cormorants fished. The number of birds dwindled as the sun rose, and they didn’t particularly like me close.

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I found a site – Do you know your cormorants? for identification, since I’ve grown up calling all types the generic ‘shag’. Waterbirds didn’t feature in my youthful bird-watching days – apart from the ones which visited farm dams.

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The Great Cormorant is all black with a yellow patch on its face. Apparently, during breeding season, the yellow is bordered by white, and a white patch appears on the flanks

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Range: North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

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Thanks for looking.

🙂

Birds

Phalacrocorax carbo: Great Cormorants

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Wikipedia says… “Rocklands Reservoir is a popular recreational boating location; with powered boating, water skiing and jet skiing allowed. Camping is permitted in designated areas. During the duck hunting season, duck shooting is allowed, it is also a popular fishing spot with Murray cod, Redfin, Trout and Carp taken regularly at all times of the year, Rocklands had a reputation as one of the premier carp fishing destinations in the late 90’s and early 2000’s with 10 kg+ carp taken regularly.”

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I loved watching the cormorants fish. They launched from the curved spillway wall and it was there, when the sun rose, that masses of them lined up, drying their wings.  My old Nokia Lumia camera phone couldn’t do that particular sight justice.

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For this next photo, I’m on the walkway right on top, near the castle-like part. The Glenelg River appears on the other side, getting on with it’s journey to the sea. An intricate system prevents carp, and their eggs, from going downstream.

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Work started on the Rocklands Reservoir in 1938 but construction was distrupted by WW2.  Picking up again in 1950, the ungated, gravity-fed dam wall and embankments were completed in 1953 – a few years before I was born. Nowadays, it supplies both agricultural and environmental needs as water levels permit.

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It was only about 28% full when we visited last month.

Thanks for looking.

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Travels

The Spillway, Rocklands Reservoir

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I had trouble getting perfect pictures of the occasional male Golden Whistler popping by our camp.  Because these birds usually kept moving while foraging, I often took the shot too early – before the camera could auto focus.

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This next bird is an immature Golden Whistler. You can see spots of yellow on the body, and black on the throat band.  This one was more accommodating.

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I never see these birds at home. And I can’t tell you what they sound like as I’m too deaf to hear them. Next trip I’m going to wear my cheap Chinese imported hearing aids as I’m really missing bird song.

I suppose I could have doctored this final photo with a bit of light enhancement on its eye, but that would be cheating! What you see on my blog is what I get – apart from sharpening and cropping and reducing pixels.

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Thanks for looking.

🙂

Birds

Golden Whistler

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