Lake Woods

There is a Road Closed sign on the turnoff to Lake Woods so I decided to do the right thing and ask the local police what the story was. The local sergeant was very nice and encouraged me to take it easy on the road but head out there and if anyone asked, "tell 'em the Sarge said it was ok!"
The track was a lot better than I thought it would be from his remarks. Although it isn't marked in any way, it is still pretty easy to follow the track correctly out to the lake. Or what I thought was the lake.
After stopping the car, and realising I was the only one there, I took in the serenity. For about 3 minutes and then heard a car, which not only came to the side of the lake, but parked right next to me. A friendly fella jumped out, beer in his hand, sat down at the table I was sitting at, and proceeded to chat away for about 15 minutes. Although not overly happy that my dream afternoon of solitude with the birds had just been shattered, he was a nice guy and gave me a lot of information about the local area and birdlife. For a start, where I was sitting isn't in fact Lake Woods, that is further to the east south east from where I was. And he informed me it is the largest lake in the Territory, a fact I didn't know. And he also told me there were lots of Brolgas there. I didn't immediately get up and drive out to the actual lake as much as that appealed to me, and mainly because he pointed out some Magpie Geese way over the water in the shade. How he saw them I'll never know, although he did let on that they were one of his favourite tucker.
And the birdlife and action where we were was more than satisfying. There must be thousands of fish in the lake as lots of different types of birds were feeding on the fish, or in the shallows on food in the mud.
As I sat and watched, I saw Gull-billed Terns, Whistling Kites, Black Kites, Australiasian Darter and Great Egrets all plough into the water with beak or talons to snare a feed of fish. Brolgas, the Magpie Geese and Royal Spoonbills were staying at a distance all feeding in the shallows across the water, occasionally making there way into the open for me to see but not get great photos. At various points there would have been 40-50 birds of prey, only Whistling and Black Kites, circling above the water at various heights. The hardest thing about catching a fish was keeping it off the other Kites nearby. My companion at the table eventually took his mob home and another car that had arrived also left so I was there by myself, with this amazing bird spectacular in front of me, and above me. Various ducks and a pair of Great-crested Grebes swum around the lake, although mostly on the other side to where I was located. Nankeen Night Herons started out as just one, then another, and then there were 5 all pretty much in the one spot, occasionally barking at one another to get out of one's space. Cattle Egret were again on the far side but in beautiful orange plumage. The smaller birds on my side included another Pictorella Mannikan, Zebra Finches, Weebills, Willie Wagtails, Rainbow Bee-eaters and slightly larger Apostlebirds. For those photographers amongst you, you can imagine how many photos I took, so I've had to cut down the number shown as you would be here for hours! Even so, there are still a lot to look through. Enjoy.

Apostlebird

Black Kite

Black Kite catching fish

Australasian Darter catching fish

Diamond Dove

Great-crested Grebe

Gull-billed Tern catching fish

Whistling Kite catching fish

Zebra Finch in the late afternoon light