Friday, 12 August 2011

Lochern National Park – Far West Queensland 06-08-11

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Broadwater Waterhole - Harrier hawks in the air riding the thermals. Unfortunately all you see is specks taken with our digital camera.

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Coolibah trees and ground cover of Nardoo fern

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Nardoo Fern – Clover like ferns form a russet carpet during dry periods, then spring to fresh green after rain. Australia’s First People ground the small spore cases to a yellow flour that helped satisfy hunger when other food sources were scarce.

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Mitchell grasses and dry, russet coloured Nardoo fern

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Broadwater shadows

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Bell grass

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Fresh Nardoo Ferns and Mitchell grass

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Our kayak ready to go!

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Spotted Harrier/Little Eagle nest – one of many at Broadwater

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White-necked Heron

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Little black cormorants – a gregarious lot fishing or flying in huge numbers. These were taken from the kayak. From our campsite overlooking Broadwater, I counted over 150 on the water and on overhanging branches of Coolibahs!

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White-faced Heron

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Old water pump













Swamp Harrier ?

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Emus! Adult male guiding youngish emus – Emu Chicks hatch in the winter months.

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Very shy Blue-billed duck (Oxyura australis)

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Typical steep bank at Broadwater taken from our kayak

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White-necked Heron – large numbers on the banks at Broadwater

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Spotted Harrier one of many on these waters!

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I took this over my shoulder from the kayak!

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Trying to out-pace the Blue-billed duck/drake (Oxyura australis). There appeared to be only one pair here. They are slightly smaller than the Mallard, a rich dark brown colour and paddle low in the water, tail on the water as you can see.They are apparently secretive and generally uncommon.

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Our camp-spot under the shade of a Coolibah tree - overlooking the waterhole – where else!

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Bootlace trees (Hakea chordophylla) and underlying carpet of winter-russet nardoo fern.

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Waterhole walk. These waterholes are part of flood overflows along the Thomson River.

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Creek Wilga flower

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Creek Wilga (Eremophila bignoniiflora) A dainty tree with fresh green foliage, a nice contrast to grey/green or silver foliage of the Eucalyptus.

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Old tree blaze, axe marks still visible

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Coolibah and greening nardoo fern underlay

1 comment:

maree delofski said...

is this the first time you've used the canoe? alan looks like a character out of raymond briggs ie father xmas in the bush. mxxx