Due to an unprecedented demand we took two boats up the Molonglo River on a warm, calm, early autumn morning, on this now annual COG trip to view the Darter and cormorant nesting. And certainly in terms of Darter numbers and breeding no one could have been disappointed, as we observed much activity. On one occasion apparent nest building was still in progress, six nests had either a male or female sitting tight, there was one nest with a male brooding a very young chick which a fortunate few managed to get a glimpse of, and at least another seven nests had large but still downy chicks in them. One of the latter contained five chicks, only the second time we've ever seen this many in about 10 trips. Unlike last year there was also some nesting close to or between the two bridges, as well as quite a few nests on the northern bank. A feature of the total of nearly 60 Darters seen over the whole stretch of the river was the many juvenile and immature birds, which together with the 25 mostly young birds seen in East Basin on our return, mostly loafing on the bare development banks, points to a very successful though still unfinished breeding season.
On the other hand cormorant numbers were well down on the usual with just eight Great Cormorants seen together in a small bare tree which contained three nests, two with adult birds sitting tight and the other with three well grown chicks. At the back of this tree were about six Little Black Cormorants, several of them recently fledged by the appearance of their lighter coloured heads. Only three Little Pied Cormorants were seen; two of these were on a nest, on one occasion within one metre of a Darter nest, well away from the tree containing the other cormorants.
As for this time last year, the river was very quiet in respect of other water birds, with few ducks and surprisingly not even a Coot seen. Unfortunately, due to a silt curtain blocking its mouth, we were not able to visit Jerrabomberra Creek where we had found many waterbirds last time. Land birds too were very quiet though the total of 40 species seen, including several seen only on East Basin, was about average based on previous years.
The 25 participants, easily a record, thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as I did even though it was close to my tenth trip in five years. A fitting end was observing two very young cygnets, one of which was taking a ride on its Black Swan parent’s back, in East Basin. I certainly look forward to leading my next trip; every time you go up the reach seems to be different.
Jack Holland