Gould's Lagoon

Glover or Gould? I haven’t been able to keep them straight—both painters, both named John, both in Tasmania in the 1830s. But now  I know Gould’s Lagoon was named for John Gould perhaps I’ll get them sorted.

Gould’s Lagoon is a remnant wetland beside the Derwent, about ten miles upriver from Hobart. At one time the lagoon was open to the tidal rise and fall of the river and its water was brackish. A rail line was put in between the lagoon and the river and it has become “a freshwater pocket wetland.”* There’s a short trail around the inner edge of the lagoon, with a short boardwalk leading into a large bird hide where the reeds give way to open water. I visited the lagoon first in 2009, very soon after I arrived in Hobart, and saw my first purple swamphen, chestnut teal, Australasian shoveller, and welcome swallow.

Cormorant tree

Last week we learned that freckled ducks—birds that are only vagrant in Tasmania— were on the lagoon, so Friday morning we drove there before breakfast. The day was sunny and clear and warm. As we got out of the car we saw a eucalyptus at the far edge of the lagoon, laden with cormorants and an egret or two. A couple, armed with binoculars and camera, hoping to flush a snipe, said they’d seen four or five freckled ducks, all males they thought, the breeding season’s bright red band above the bill quite visible. I don’t know if there’s a record of them breeding in Tasmania, but they are one of many species of Australian waterbirds and waders who move widely in response to varying water levels.

Grey teal (with red eye), Australasian shoveller

Purple swamphen

The swampy edges of the lagoon were full of various ducks, including grey teal, a new sighting for me. The air was full of calls none of us could recognize and very still. A break in the reeds revealed a purple swamphen that appeared to be posing for its reflection. As we neared the hide we spied the freckled ducks and saw the aptness of their name—a lovely speckled plumage. The slight tuft or point on their heads made me think of North American ring-necked ducks.

Freckled duck, male

We settled to watch the goings-on—Eurasian coots splashing, shovellers dabbling, white-faced herons swooping to the shore, egrets lifting from the tree to land on reedy hummocks at the other edge of the lagoon. A swamp harrier circled overhead and sent masked lapwings screaming and flying. When we turned to look back at the shore we glimpsed the neon green of musk lorikeets feeding in the trees.

White-faced heron

Great egret and little pied cormorant

An hour or more went by and hunger prodded us towards leaving. Just then a pair of Australian pelicans flew across the pond, circled back and landed. So we stayed for another while to watch them.

Australian pelicans

But to get back to Mr. Gould—John Gould (1804-1881), son of a gardener at Lyme Regis, became a zoologist and the man who produced many nineteenth-century ornithological books, including The Birds of Australia (in seven volumes). Gould planned the books and made the rough initial sketches, but for the most part the finished plates were done by other artists, including his wife Elizabeth, and Edward Lear, who were better artists than he was.   

John and Elizabeth Gould were in Australia between 1838 and 1840, collecting material on birds. Though he travelled to some areas on the mainland, Elizabeth spent most of the time in Tasmania—or Van Diemen’s Land as it then was—where she gave birth to her fifth child, christened Franklin after Sir John Franklin, then lieutenant-governor of Tasmania.

*from a very good outdoor education program guide to the lagoon. If you want to know more about the lagoon and the marine life here you can find it at: http://www.derwentestuary.org.au/assets/Wetland_discovery_trail.pdf