Joondalup Lake

Edgewater Drive off Ocean Reef Rd off Mitchell Freeway.

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This is a very large lake. You can not possibly walk around it. I have just visited here in March and there was still water around the sides deep enough for pelicans to swim in.

I was very impressed with the variety of wildlife here including skinks in the bush around the lake. I have not studied this lake for a whole year but I am planning on returning here several times throughout this year to see the changes.

There are two parts to the wildlife at this lake. Firstly the wildlife that is in the lake and surrounding area, and then the wildlife that is in the car park on Boas Ave off Grand Bvd where the animals are used to people and you can sit in and amongst them all.

The 'true' wildlife that I saw on this visit were pelicans, yellow spoon bills, black fronted plovers, banded stilts, pacific black ducks, coots and moorhens, sea gulls, white faced herons, egrets and cormorants of different varieties, small singing birds in the trees around the lake, three different types of skink, bees and wasps.

Great egret

Little pied cormorant

Also I saw bushes covered in spiders, where I am going to return to at night, to get a better look at them There were not many crickets or butterflies, but a lot of long necked turtles bobbing up and down out of the water to breath, and lots of small fish.

I feel with the water being lower and to the sides it is a better time to view the wildlife as it forces it to the sides more.


Around the car park on the lawn there were over 50 south western corellas. There were long beaked and short beaked corella's playing and feeding in the lawn area.	This baby corella was constantly sqwarking and demanding food from his parents.

There were also ring-neck parrots, pink and grey galahs, kookaburras, western grey kangaroos, wood ducks, sea gulls, magpies, and a mixture of pigeons and doves were here, where they will all tolerate you walking in and amongst them. When you turn around you will find you have a procession of birds walking along behind you hoping for a hand out, which I usually refuse to do.

I returned at night in April a couple of times to see what came out. Of course spiders were
in abundance and the tracks were quickly covered in webs.

I also watched the western grey kangaroos at the main carpark on Boas St. The young males were boxing and kicking after they had had their full of grass. It was sad to see so many people feeding the roo's bags of bread, it would be much better for the kangaroos if people brought chaff from city farmers and feed this to them. I understand people wanting to share experiences with the animals but there are better things for them to eat than bread.

We also enjoyed watching the turtles from the jetty bobbing up for air. And this seagull posed for me on one of the jetty poles. As it had not rained yet, I heard very few frogs but will return here in the wetter months to see what froggies are around. Unfortunately this cat was also lurking around the lake disturbing the birds.

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A bees nest	A wasp