I took the featured photo at 3pm on 13 March 2024.
it shows the largest number of birds I have ever seen at one moment on the Coorong – a place I have visited more than a few times, over more than six decades.
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On 13 March 2024 there were enormous numbers of pelicans and cormorants in the Coorong’s north lagoon.
In the middle of the day, roosting was not yet on any birds’ agenda, so “flying high” was likely to be undertaken by pelicans and raptors, only.
i never tire of watching pelicans…
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For any photographer, attempting to “capture” a bird in flight is always a challenge.
More often than not, one does not succeed.
One is grateful that digital images can be inspected, instantly and deleted, often.
Sometimes, one “captures” something additional to what one had intended…
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A wider view reveals what the Coorong’s north lagoon looks like in “boom time”..and a future post’s even-wider view will really show just how prodigiously abundant was birdlife in autumn 2024.
(Photo ©️ Doug Spencer, taken at 12.55 pm on 13 March 2024 – less than one minute after the previous post’s featured image)
The Coorong has long been a very dynamic ecosystem – and a fragile one.
Three months after we witnessed such abundance in the north lagoon, the Coorong’s south lagoon suffered a huge fish kill; an estimated 200 stinking tonnes of dead fish were rotting.
Locals said it was the largest such event in more than forty years.
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My photo shows how “surprisingly” lush the vegetation can be on some parts of the Younghusband Peninsula.
On 13 March 2024 pelican numbers were within “normal” range for this part of the Coorong’s north lagoon – in my experience, at least.
Spoonbills, however, were “off the scale” – I had never before seen so many, there.
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This post’s two photos were taken within thirty seconds of each other.
Promenading pelicans sometimes resemble corpulent “captains of industry” at a “prestigious”, corporate “backslapping”,”bonding” or “charitable” event…or attendees at a political party’s “pay for access” fundraiser.
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This post’s photo was taken three minutes after the previous chapter’s featured image.
As you can see, at 12.40 pm on 13 March 2024, all cormorants near to “our” boat decided to take off.
The nearest pelicans and swans stayed put.
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After our stroll to & from the ocean beach side of the Younghusband Peninsula, “our” boat headed further south along the Coorong’s north lagoon.
It became progressively more apparent that we were visiting during “boom” time.
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For many thousands of years, before Europeans arrived, the Younghusband Peninsula was one of Australia’s most densely (human) populated places.
When we landed on it on the morning of 13 March 2024, we were accompanied by Ngarrindjeri elder Darryl Koolmatrie.
At Godfrey’s Landing he formally welcomed us.
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Happily, the pictured sign is obeyed by most of the many humans who drive onto Goolwa’s ocean beach, then proceed south…all the way along the Sir Richard Peninsula, to Pullen Spit.
Pullen Spit is the constantly-shifting northern bank of the River Murray’s mouth.
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