Lake Ballard in the morning light! what a contrast to yesterday late afternoon. Unlike the soft golden glow that fell over Lake Ballard yesterday, the lighting was brighter, the colors sharper and the lake lost it's shimmer. Nonetheless, the scene before us was just as beautiful, only different.
Video from Yesterday's late afternoon:    • Lake Ballard, Beautiful in the Golden...  

Yesterday, we noticed was dozens of Tiger Beetles (Pseudotetracha australis) zooming across the surface of Lake Ballard. These iridescent green little beetles are fast, so fast they're blind when they run, and with the fading light yesterday, we only managed a couple of photos. That's alright, we thought, we'll get some tomorrow. Well . . . we didn't. We found out they're also nocturnal so they weren't active this morning.

Lake Ballard is an ephemeral salt lake, 50km by 20 km in size covering an area of 4,900 hectares. After major rains resulting in floods, the Banded Stilt breeds on Lake Ballard ( and other salt lakes including Eyre and Barlee ). Brine Shrimp which come to life with the rains are a food source for the stilts and attracts them to Lake Ballard. Although Lake Ballard had received some rain unfortunately it wasn't enough to trigger a breeding frenzy this time.

In 1995, Cyclone Bobby lashed Western Australia's northern coast with rains and then cut inland. These rains covered Lake Ballard in warm shallow water which allowed the dormant brine shrimp to hatch. This water and brine shrimp food source resulted in a perfect environment for the Banded Stilts to breed. And they did, with over 4,500 nests popping up in a few days.

Records indicate this rare occurence had only happened 7 times in the last 215 yrs at Lake Ballard. Given that Lake Ballard is over 2.9 billions years old, it's likely this event has happened many times before and possibly recorded by the Wangkatha people in their stories. Sadly, the Wangkatha name for Lake Ballard has been lost over time.

If you visit, PLEASE DON'T DRIVE ON LAKE BALLARD

Lake Ballard is on the traditional lands of Wangkatha people (Wongathu)

Take nothing but photos/video,
Leave nothing but footprints and
Kill nothing but time.

If you like this video please click Like and why not Subscribe to be advised of more videos.
Thank You for watching.

This video was filmed in 4K with a Mavic 3 Pro

Chapters
0:11 - The Main Island
0:39 - Statue
0:55 - Looking Down
1:28 - Around the main island
1:56 - A few statues