Monday 16th October, 2023 - Lake Parramatta Reserve

Start time: 12pm (approx)
Duration: 1hr, 55 mins (approx)
Distance: 3km (approx)
iNaturalist observations: 4

Today, I decided to visit Lake Parramatta Reserve, as it has been well over a year since my last visit.

I began my journey at the entrance on North Rocks Road, bypassing part of the Upper Lake Track to get to the Reservoir track, where a lone male king parrot caught my eye. He was feeding on the fruits of a hop bush, right next to the lake. The king parrots of the area are quite friendly and undisturbed by humans, so I was able to get close for some photos. Unfortunately, he was swooped at by a currawong, but later returned to his spot to feed, where I continued to watch and photograph him.

Throughout the reserve, most of the vegetation I saw consisted of a canopy of eucalyptus and angorpha species, an understory of various shrubs including hop bush and blackthorn and scattered lomandra and flannel flowers along the forest floor. Some parts of the bushland have had hazard reduction burns done recently, so all the mature shrubs were dead with lush new growth sprouting from the burned ground.

Below the dam at the Lower Hunts creek crossing, where it is more moist and perhaps also more fertile, the understory vegetation included many different species of ferns, as well as the invasive wandering trad. (Tradescantia fluminensis) To my surprise, I saw an Australian brushturkey chick, foraging amongst the leaf litter near the creek.

Once I headed uphill and reached the heritage path, I saw a flock of cockatoos feeding on the grass near some of the picnic tables. There were about 15 or so, one of them showing signs of psittacine beak and feather disease with many missing feathers on its head, the rest of the flock appearing healthy. I found a picnic table overlooking the lake and sat down to have something to eat. Many more cockatoos were seen perched in the large, hollow-bearing trees on the opposite side of the lake.

Since it was getting dark and windy with predicted rain, I had to cut my trip short. I headed back up the reservoir track and followed the Upper Lake Track along the lake that I missed earlier, finding more flannel flowers and some pea shrubs. Even though I didn't stay as long as I wanted to, I'll be sure to return on a better day so I can contribute to photographing and documenting the wonderful biodiversity of the area.

Below are some of the common and/or notable species I observed and was able to identify:

📷 = Observations posted

Plants:

Acacia sp. (At least 4 or 5 different species)
Actinotus helianthi (Flannel flower) 📷
Angorpha costata (Smooth-barked apple)
Banksia serrata (Old Man Banksia)
Banksia spinulosa (Hairpin banksia)
Bursaria spinosa (Australian blackthorn)
Cyathea cooperi (Australian tree fern)
Dillwynia retorta (Heathy parrot pea)
Dodonaea lanceolata (Hop bush)
Eucalyptus pilularis (Blackbutt)
Grevillea linearifolia (White spider flower) 📷
Lomandra longifolia (Spiny-headed mat-rush)
Ozothamnus diosmifolius (Sago flower)
Persoonia linearis (Narrow-leaf geebung)

Birds:
(Full list on eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S152366284)

Alectura lathami (Australian brushturkey) 📷
Alisterus scapularis (Australian king parrot) 📷
Cacatua galerita (Sulphur-crested cockatoo)
Fulica atra (Eurasian coot)
Gallinula tenebrosa (Dusky moorhen)
Glossopsitta concinna (Musk lorikeet)
Malarus cyaneus (Superb fairywren)
Manorina melanocephala (Noisy miner)
Phalacrocorax carbo (Great cormorant)
Phalacrocorax sulcirostris (Little black cormorant)
Platycercus elegans (Crimson rosella)
Trichoglossus moluccanus (Rainbow lorikeet)

Reptiles:

Eulamprus quoyii (Eastern Water Skink)
Intellagama leuserii ssp. leuserii (Eastern Water Dragon)

This is my first journal post on iNaturalist, I'll be looking forward to writing more, learning to identify more species and paying more close attention to my surroundings.

Thank you for reading!

Publicado el octubre 16, 2023 08:58 MAÑANA por