A great little find, Green Lake Regional Park 10km south of Sea Lake in Victoria offers a tidy old school campground with lakefront sites and loads of bird photography potential, without much work! I visited in late March, but I do have a few cautionary tales....
It's an interesting story how I found Green Lake to begin with. If you watched my Lake Tyrrell video, you might remember we walked out onto the salt bed to photograph the sunken grader on sunset one evening. It was a windy evening and a late finish, finally making it back to our vehicle after 9pm.
The guys were camping there the night, and although I'm cosy in my van, being able to shut the doors and weather any storm, my friend Teena was camping outdoors in her swag and would have a pretty rough night coming up. I suggested we drive to Green Lake, which I'd seen online, and try and get a camp for the night, away from the wind.
It was past 9.30pm by the time we made it there, and there was no sign of the caretaker. We couldn't see much in the dark, so we cheekily set up camp in the day area, knowing we'd be gone well before dawn anyway, with plans for sunrise at Lake Tyrrell.
I could make out a star-filled lake and some campfires in the distance, so we dutifully returned the next night as paying customers to properly check it out and what a pleasant surprise! We spotted Cockatiels and Red-rumped Parrots immediately, who were coming to the waters edge for an after dip and a drink.
We loved the place so much we delayed out plans to head to Yanga National Park, and stayed 4 nights in total.
Probably not much of a landscape photography location, but an easy peasy birding spot, with very little effort required to get a good variety of birds to photograph.
A few of my favourite shots - seeing generous flocks of Cockatiels was definitely a highlight!
ISO 4000, 500mm, f6.3 1/1600th. NR in Lightroom
You can see from my settings I struggled to get enough shutter speed as the light was low when birds were at their most active. I shot at pretty high ISO, but with Lightroom's AI Noise Reduction tool, it's not much of a concern, bringing lovely crisp results. I don't see the need to pay for a dedicated noise reduction tool when Lightroom's one is so good.
Beautiful light in the mornings, although a little dim, I like the drama of this shot of a juvenile Cockatiel. I did remove a few twigs in the foreground in Affinity Photo, which is a fantastic alternative to Photoshop, available as a download and not a subscription. Perfect for the occasional user like me. I do very little editing outside Lightroom - one subscription is enough!
ISO 3200, 320mm, f8.0, 1/2000th. NR in Lightroom.
More Cockatiels! Morning snacks in the grasses.
ISO 3200, 500mm, f9.0, 1/2000th. NR in Lightroom.
The female Red-rumped Parrot is often referred to as 'drab' but I love her olive tones - subtle, not drab.
ISO 2500, 500mm f7.1 1/1250th. NR in Lightroom
Noisy Miners dominated the campground but it's still fun to watch their antics. This youngster was doing what youngsters do and constantly calling to his parents.
ISO 4000, 500mm, f6.3, 1/1000th. NR in Lightroom.
They did put on a good show having a quick dip in the lake each afternoon.
ISO 2500, 500mm, f7.1, 1/8000th. NR in Lightroom
Green Lake definitely warrants a second visit with it's easy going campground, ample birds and relaxing vibe. With more time to venture into the Mallee, I'm sure this place would turn up some really interesting birds, as it's a major source of freshwater with not much around but dry wheat fields and salt lakes.
Just don't go during school holidays!