Black Swan pair with 5 month old cygnet

 Saturday 5 March 2022

During a short walk on the Eastern Arm of the lake at lunchtime, with Yori, I found three Black Swans along the edge towards the bridge on Ginniderra Drive. They were feeding as a group but it took me some time to discover that more than one swan was present. I could read the band from one as right leg redBNY. This was the Pen. Eventually two other swans came into view. I could hear an occasional soft call from at least another swan somewhere close-by  but out of sight. It turn out to be two! One was the presumed cob BJU but I did not read its band, though I could see it was left leg colour banded, and the other was a five month old cygnet, now sporting what appeared to be fully grown pinions. This cygnet is the only one of 5 first seen and recorded as a newly hatched (s) brood in the first week of October 2021. This family has often been found along this reach and from early December only one cygnet had survived and now it is 5 months old and still with its parents.

Further south, towards John Knight Memorial Park, I found a group of Welcome Swallows most, if not all, seemed to be young of the year. fAt the same time flying over the lake nearby I spotted at least 4 Tree Martins.