Birding Herdsman Lake (II), Perth, Western Australia

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When: February 2026 4pm Weather: Hot 30C

We were to fly from Perth to Christmas Island but Qantas postponed our flight due to adverse weather conditions……by the time we deplaned and got our luggage back and hired a car and booked rooms in the airport hotel, it was the afternoon and we adjourned back to Herdsman’s Lake which my friends had not seen yet…..It was 4pm by the time we got there…

This south entrance to the Herdsman lake is near the Discovery Centre…this is where we saw the frogmouths yesterday and we wanted to find them again….
First bird of the afternoon was the black faced cuckoo shrike
A wandering whistling duck on the lake…..the tawny frogmouths were nowhere to be seen….so we shot around the lake..
Pacific black ducks were everywhere
A splendid yellow billed spoonbill
an amorous pair of grebes
little pied cormorant
a very pretty singing honeyeater posed
Laughing dove
and as we walked along the boardwalk, willie wagtails were active
willie wagtail diving
a black headed ibis sunned himself
and in the bright evening sun, a pair of purple swamphens glowed in the evening light
purple swamphen
close up
australian raven in the woods
and as the sun got lower, this magnificent fellow popped out
the beautiful buff barred rail
buff barred rail
a red wattlebird bade us goodbye….

And we were just about to leave when we were called over the to base of the power station tower to see something…

the light was dim, but we were able to pick out the tawny frogmouth from yesterday….so brilliantly camouflaged
he opened his eye to check us out
and just a little further along the branch was the second….and just behind him you can glimpse the top of the head of the third frogmouth.

So this second visit to Herdsman was also very good with better sightings of the frogmouths and the rail…..Small compensation for not travelling to Christmas Island….

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