Lake Burrendong State Park

Glossy Black Cockatoo

I’d been wanted to visit Lake Burrendong State Park since the flood waters raised the dam level from 1% to 87%, so the week before Easter Maureen and I packed the dogs into the car along with our camping gear and headed west.

Apart from the water, and the walks through some incredible scenery, a big attraction was the Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum at the entrance to the State Park. Established in 1964 the gardens cover approximately 167 ha. Dedicated to the preservation and conservation of Australia's unique and incredibly diverse flora, it is arranged in thematic areas that facilitate both driving tours and walks. Like many amazing conservation projects the gardens were established primarily through the efforts of one man, George Althofer. George was a big fan of one of my favourite plants, the mint bush, and wrote a book on the species. His brother Peter designed and supervised the building of the spectacular Fern Gully at the arboretum.

Fantastic place. We plan a return visit.

Bird list:

• Australasian Grebe
• Great Crested Grebe
• Australian Pelican
• Darter
• Pied Cormorant
• White-faced Heron
• Maned Duck
• Pacific Black Duck
• Whistling Kite
• Collared Sparrowhawk
• White-Bellied Sea-eagle
• Australian Kestrel
• Brown Quail
• Dusky Moorhen
• Eurasian Coot
• Masked Lapwing
• Silver Gull
• Common Bronzewing
• Crested Pigeon
• Peaceful Dove
• Eastern Rosella
• Galah
• Glossy Black Cockatoo
• King Parrot
• Musk Lorikeet
• Red-rumped Parrot
• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
• Fan-tailed Cuckoo
• Laughing Kookaburra
• Welcome Swallow
• Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
• White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
• Eastern Yellow Robin
• Jacky Winter
• Crested Shrike-tit
• Golden Whistler
• Restless Flycatcher
• Grey Fantail
• Willie Wagtail
• Grey-crowned Babbler
• Superb Fairy Wren
• Yellow-rumped Thornbill
• Weebill
• White-throated Treecreeper
• Brown Treecreeper
• Red Wattlebird
• Blue-faced Honeyeater
• Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
• White-plumed Honeyeater
• Yellow-faced Honeyeater
• Eastern Spinebill
• Noisy Miner
• Noisy Friarbird
• Mistletoe Bird
• Spotted Pardalote
• Red-browed Firetail
• Diamond Firetail
• Double-barred Finch
• Zebra Finch
• Apostlebird
• White-winged Chough
• Australian Magpie-lark
• Grey Butcherbird
• Pied Butcherbird
• Australian Magpie
• Pied Currawong
• Australian Raven
• Little Raven
• Emu