Swan Finale

 

There is a sad event attached to this post. Foxes attacked the swan family and took away two cygnets and seriously injured the goose which must have bravely defended the young ones. As a result of the attack, the goose died a day later and the Swan couple took their four remaining cygnets with them walking through the local suburb to another water location which might prove to be more secure against killers like foxes that come up from the river gorge. It is unfortunate that one really stupid English colonial idiot thought it smart to bring foxes to Australia so that he felt more at home. So this will be the last video of the swan family. The footage was taken at the wetland during the weeks before the attack. It took an effort to make the video and the music added is Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor (First Movement) which seems to catch the emotions of the moment - new life and loss. The video can be viewed HERE.

Wetland Birds

 

This seemed a good time to gather into one place some pictures of the birds that live in our local wetland. Some are harder to photograph like the wren above, flitting about, never stopping for more than three seconds. The star attraction has been the black swans and their growing cygnets. After that comes Roberto, the single goose residing there with a few psychological issues, then the moorhens, Eurasian coots, ducks of various breeds, parrots as well and a lone heron which stands aloof in a sage-like pose most of the time. Then there are the new coot chicks to enjoy. Oh so small. We look about for each bird in turn when we visit our wetland, mentally ticking them off, glad to see that they are all doing well, until we meet again. 

Wetland Nest

When we have time we visit our nearby wetland to check out how the swan couple are going. We are being told that the male swan is doing most of the sitting, but we are not sure about that from what we have read on the internet. Certainly the female had to lay the eggs and the laying seemed to take a few weeks, one egg at a time. The couple settled on six as revealed last blog post and the chance siting we had today confirms that six is officially set. Soon we'll be very excited to see six little cygnets swimming about. Peter made a video of the day which can be viewed HERE. In one of the scenes a Eurasian Coot ventures onto the nest for a close encounter. The music in the video is 'Walkerman Waltz' composed and played by Peter's brother.

Eurasian Coot Chick

This is a continuing story about the one surviving Eurasian Coot chick at our nearby wetland. It probably survived because the other three chicks starved before it did, plus having the most persistent 'chirp' to keep its parent feeding it. Now few months old at this stage it continues to chirp persistently (and still get food from mum/dad), and only at the end of the video does it duck its head under the water to search for something to eat from the biomass it swims over. We have collection of recent videos mostly of this chick which can be seen HERE.

Another Wetland Wander

This is the place to be, especially when the sun is out. We like to visit and see how the chick is growing. We say chick because from four hatchlings only one is surviving now. This makes us sad. The surviving chick seems to be doing ok and its parents seem to be helping it by pulling up plant growth for it to eat from under the water surface. It can't reach those titbits. Too small and can't dive. So far so good and the chick is getting bigger. You can see a recent video of current life at this wetland HERE and the chick features in many scenes.

Wetland Visits

Even during the restricted isolation, we are able to drop in on our feathered friends at our nearby wetland at Uni Hill. We were concerned to note that the four Eurasian Coot chicks are now only one. What happened to the others we do not know. The surviving chick is growing and its parents are helping it by ducking underwater for the food it keeps chirping for. It is not an overcrowded wetland and so the birds that are there, the two swans, numerous Moorhens, Eurasian Coots and ducks plus the one goose, one heron and one cormorant, all must feel pretty pleased with their lot in life.