Largest wallaby total seen on lake islands | Nature Notes

Wallabies have been coming and going at Lake Wendouree for many years, but this is the largest total known. Now that the willows are leafless, they are stripping the bark of the trunks. Some of the trees may die from ringbarking.

Willow bark contains salicylic acid, which is used medicinally. In humans, it has anti-inflammatory effects, and is also used in pain relief. Its effect on wallabies is unknown.

Hay or straw is obvious in the accompanying photo. This has been provided by a concerned citizen. Carrots are being fed too, so the wallabies should be getting adequate nutrition.

The animals are free to come and go - wallabies can swim quite well - so they can leave the islands whenever they choose. However, the option of suburbia and traffic may not appeal to them.

A black wallaby's natural diet is very wide, and includes leaves of shrubs and trees, ferns, grasses and sometimes fungi. Exotic and native plants are eaten, so they are not fussy eaters.

Wallabies are usually solitary, although they will gather in small numbers where food is plentiful. A sighting of any more than three or four together in natural conditions is uncommon.

Wallabies breed at almost any time of the year. We can expect to see youngsters in their mothers' pouches before the end of the year, if the animals choose to remain where they are.

The black wallaby is sometimes known as the swamp wallaby. In the case of the Lake Wendouree animals, it's an apt name, but this wallaby is not confined to swamps and damp places throughout its range, so black wallaby is the better name. It is a darker wallaby than most others, and it can appear black as it bounds away.

Those in the photo show some variation, particularly in the richness of orange colour between the ears.

Another variation among black wallabies - not visible here - is the amount of white on the tip of the tail. Some individuals have a very obvious white tail-tip, but others have none.

A new bird for the North Gardens Wetlands at Lake Wendouree is the white-winged chough. A single bird was spotted there earlier this week.

Choughs are always communal birds, normally found in groups of around six to 15, with more in winter. A single one is unusual. It was first heard, then seen, and then photographed.

A white-winged chough is a black crow-like bird with white in its wings.

On August 3, I saw an adult duck with about 10 - 12 ducklings in Old Creswick Road, Wendouree. I wondered where they had come from, and if this high number is normal.

C.A.

Your report appears to be the first for this season's ducklings. Although 10 to 12 is larger than some broods, it is not over-large.

According to references, eight to 10 is the usual number for black ducks. Sometimes a brood of black ducks might number only five, and sometimes even more than 12.

Although the ducklings are most likely to be black ducks, the wood duck is another possibility. Nine to 12 is the usual number for them, but there are sometimes 13 or 14, or even more. The nest was probably in a patch of long grass. The adult would be leading the family to the nearest dam or wetland. Send questions to Roger Thomas, The Courier, PO Box 21, Ballarat, 3353, or rthomas@vic.australis.com.au