Tuesday 5 April 2022

A walk with Yori this afternoon (2:20 -3:30 checking out a nesting Black Swan that I spotted a couple of days ago. This Black Swan is now sitting on a nest in the fringing vegetation along the shoreline of the lake, directly in front of the house. The site is close to the northern BBQ. I first spotted a Black Swan sitting on this nest two days ago but did not have a camera with me at the time. What I take to be the cob (Red BJA, left leg) was nearby to the S. This pair may have started incubation well before a few days ago because I have not been down to the lake for some days and I was away on Montagu Island 21-28 March.

Earlier this morning there were 7 Swamphens grazing in front of the house. The light was difficult but I used the Fv option on the R6 with some success, although the birds were far too far off and the images needed considerable cropping. Yesterday, there were 12 of them! Some scuffles with display/aggressive interactions. Body feathers fully fluffed up, head down, tail up with prominent white 'bums' as the birds make themselves 'as large as possible'. Probably two groups one of 7 and the other of 5 birds but this may be an oversimplification of the situation. All trying to graze on the grassland.

Today, I also spotted a nice Willie Wagtail. There were still 10 domestic ducks (all of which seem to be drakes) in the lagoon. Along the shoreline of the lagoon a Coot and a couple of photogenic Silver Gulls on rocks were interesting but I could not get the right position for the light with Yori dragging or jolting me on his leash! All photos this afternoon were taken with the Lumix FZ300.