Lake Esmond

Lake Esmond, Canadian, Victoria

Updated 28th March 2021.

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 I will use and update this page to detail what we see and have seen.

Update: 28th March 2021 from today's observations:

  • Added new entry for Spotted Pardalote

Water Birds

  • Australasian Swamphen
  • Australian Ibis (normally only seen flying overhead)
  • Dusky Moorhen
  • Eurasian Coot
  • Great Cormorant
  • Great Egret
  • Hardhead Duck
  • Little Pied Cormorant
  • Maned Duck (Wood Duck)
  • Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), a large duck native to Mexico, Central, and South America.
  • Pacific Black Duck
  • Silver Gull
  • White-Faced Heron

Parrots

  • Corella (exact species not yet determined)
  • Crimson Rosella
  • Eastern Rosella
  • Galah
  • Rainbow Lorikeet
  • Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
  • Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo

Other Birds

  • Australian Magpie
  • Australian Raven ("Crow")
  • Australian Reed Warbler
  • Black-Faced Cuckooshrike
  • Brown Thornbill
  • Common Bronzewing Pigeon
  • Crested Pigeon

  • Eastern Spinebill
  • European Blackbird
  • European Starling
  • Grey Butcherbird
  • Grey Currawong
  • Grey Fantail
  • House Sparrow
  • Laughing Kookaburra
  • Lesser Wattlebird
  • Magpie Lark
  • Masked Lapwing
  • New Holland Honeyeater
  • Pied Currawong
  • Red Wattlebird
  • Spotted Pardalote
  • Superb Fairywren
  • Welcome Swallow
  • Yellow Thornbill
  • Yellow Thornbill - very small bird

Mammals

  • Ring Tailed Possum

Reptiles and Amphibians

  • Eastern Banjo Frog (Pobblebonk)
  • Skink (exact species not yet determined)

Invertebrates

  • Damselfly
  • Dragonfly
  • Honeybee
  • Sawfly larvae

Fish

  • Rainbow Trout
  • Undetermined species

Fungi