BALLARAT

Recently my family and I went to Ballarat. We visited Sovereign Hill and Lake Wendouree. This is a report of the trip.
We headed out from home. It was a long drive to Ballarat, but eventually we got there. Our first stop was Sovereign Hill. At the hill, most of the birds were sparrows. There was a small lake nearby where I spotted Pacific black and Australian wood ducks. Then we got to the main birding destination of the trip- Lake Wendouree. The lake is well-known for its waterbirds. During the Melbourne Olympics, a gold medal winner accidentally dropped his medal into the lake. It has not yet been found.
As usual, the common birds around the lake were Eurasian coot and Pacific black duck. There were a few purple swamphens, Australian white ibises and masked lapwings hanging around. In the distance I saw two black swans. We stopped at a promising-looking part of the lake. Our first good birds were a pair of black-tailed native hens feeding with purple swamphens on the grass. In a small pond nearby, I saw grey teals, dusky moorhens, Pacific black ducks and another black swan. On a branch over the lake were two little pied cormorants and one little black cormorant. Another good bird perched on a dead branch- a clamorous reed warbler.

A reed warbler
Suddenly, on the edge of a pond, I saw a small, grey-brown bird feeding among the rocks. LIFER! AUSTRALIAN SPOTTED CRAKE!

The crake, one of Australia's more secretive waterbirds
Continuing on, I saw a few more crakes, a spotted dove and a superb fairy-wren. I had a great day.

FOOTNOTE- I highly recommend Lake Wendouree as a birding spot.All the birds above, as well as blue-billed and musk ducks, are all possible. There is an interesting ibis rookery. A list of birds I have seen in this site previously is below-
BLACK SWAN
BLUE-BILLED DUCK
PACIFIC BLACK DUCK
GREY TEAL
HARDHEAD
SPOTTED DOVE
LITTLE PIED CORMORANT
LITTLE BLACK CORMORANT
AUSTRALIAN WHITE IBIS
AUSTRALIAN SPOTTED CRAKE
PURPLE SWAMPHEN
BLACK-TAILED NATIVE HEN
DUSKY MOORHEN
EURASIAN COOT
MASKED LAPWING
RAINBOW LORIKEET
SUPERB FAIRY-WREN
CLAMOROUS REED WARBLER

This list is from memory, I might have left out one or two species. Other people have reported seeing Eastern great egrets and brolgas.