Lake Elphinstone

Lake Elphinstone is a natural lake between Nebo and Glendon. At night one can see and hear one of the nearby mines.

Today is actually a little cool in the wind. That does not bother the thousands of coots, many ducks and a dozen or so black swans rafting around on the water. Ever now and then the coots form a tighter group, sometimes 3-400 m long and 50m wide. Then they drift apart while they each select morsels of food.

All the while ducks, and other water birds cruise around, seemingly among invisible coots. The right hand swimming swans monogram their presence with necks bent looking into the water while the return lane mirrors.

A solitary stilt regularly patrols just in front of where we are in his search for food. Just in front of us a grove of spindly weeds makes a perfect hiding spot for dozens of very small birds. They behave like Reed warblers and are cohabiting with a couple of other small birds. Their happy chatter brightens up the drab call of the crows.

Several small kingfishers take up point on a dead tree planning their next swoop on an unsuspecting small fish. Way up above the kites sweep a huge area in search of unwary prey. When they come too close the coots become nervous and the small birds engage in a communication blackout.

Now a flotilla of coots is doing a close sortie back to where their drift began. A few have started to dunk in search of food on the bottom.Read more