A VISIT TO WESTGATE PARK

Today was quite sunny, so my dad and I went to Westgate Park, a park with many different waterbirds inhabiting it that is almost just underneath the Westgate Bridge.

From the carpark (which overlooks a lake) we saw a black-winged stilt, several silver gulls, a black swan and a red wattlebird.

A black-winged stilt

We continued walking towards the main lakes. The most prominent birds on the main lakes were hardheads. There was a large flock of hardheads in the lake. The flock also consisted of coots, little pied cormorants, silver gulls, chestnut teals, grebes, moorhens and black swans, sprawled out across the lake. In the middle of the lake there was an eastern great egret.

The eastern great egret

There were a few swallows swooping around the lake, probably with one or two tree martins that we couldn't distinguish. There were also several coot nests, with birds sitting on them and one hardhead nest with a female hardhead.

A welcome swallow

A coot on its nest

One of the main highlights was a white-faced heron flying away from the lake. There were millions of dragonflies flying around and in mating position and I spotted many common galaxias fish in the water.

All in all, this was a great trip.