Drying out.

In yesterday's post I mentioned that the level of water in the dam at Namadgi Visitors Centre had dropped a lot in the last week.   A few days back I put an image on my revegetation blog showing that our top dam was also losing water.

Today I noticed that Whiskers Creek was as dry as ...
Keeping up the trend, Kelly's Swamp in Jerrabomberra Wetlands on the outskirts of Canberra is showing a whole lot of mud.
One consequence of this has been that many (about 150) of the huge carp that had become trapped in there died.  There were becoming a risk to avian health so the corpses were rounded up and removed.  Death still goes on, and has provided a meal for the Purple Swamp Hens.
The low water levels have provided a happy wading ground for the Red-kneed Dotterels that have now returned to the Swamp.  The Grey Teal is serendipity.
Another in my series "smallish birds at great distance on full zoom".   Those of a questioning mind might ask a passing taxonomist 
  • why the red knee is barely visible? and
  • why this species has more black on its front than the Black-fronted Dotterel?
An intelligible answer will not result, but it is good fun to ask such questions.

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