Last update to list November 2021. You can see posts of critters from Lake Esmond here.
Lake Esmond is like an extended front yard for us. We live right on its edge and go for regular walks around it.
Up until the early 1970s, it was the site of a clay quarry, and was left vacant for a decade. It was known as the Larter Street Clayhole, with clay extracted for the Eureka Tile Works. In the early 2000s, it was transformed into a botanic garden (of sorts). The intention was there, and early plantings gave us what we have now, but it has never really been looked after seriously by the Council. It is now classed as a Neighborhood Park.
The lake was named after early gold discoverer and Eureka Stockade leader, James Esmond, and is up to 9 metres deep. There is a lot of wildlife, birds in particular, and this page lists what we have seen.
- Australasian Swamphen
- Australian Ibis
- Australian Magpie
- Australian Raven (“Crow”)
- Australian Reed Warbler
- Black-Faced Cuckooshrike
- Brown Thornbill
- Common Bronzewing Pigeon
- Corella (exact species not yet determined)
- Crested Pigeon
- Crimson Rosella
- Dusky Moorhen
- Eastern Rosella
- Eastern Spinebill
- Eurasian Coot
- European Blackbird
- European Starling
- Galah
- Great Cormorant
- Great Egret
- Grey Butcherbird
- Grey Currawong
- Grey Fantail
- Hardhead Duck
- House Sparrow
- Laughing Kookaburra
- Lesser Wattlebird
- Little Pied Cormorant
- Magpie Lark
- Maned Duck (Wood Duck)
- Masked Lapwing
- Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), a large duck native to Mexico, Central, and South America.
- New Holland Honeyeater
- Pacific Black Duck
- Pied Currawong
- Rainbow Lorikeet
- Red Wattlebird
- Silvereye
- Silver Gull
- Spotted Pardalote
- Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
- Superb Fairywren
- Welcome Swallow
- White-Faced Heron
- Yellow Thornbill
- Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo
