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.

April 2020 Memories

This is a when we're called to think of others and do what we can to improve links with family and friends. We have had a few special moments in the month, like 'take-away' coffees with family, doing church stuff online, and tending to our garden, all at a low key level. We think that God wants us to crank up our care of others during this time even if it is via electronic means, so we pray that we have clear opportunities to do just that.

With better speakers for uplifting music

Blackberries this year!

Gembrook Retreat Scenes

It seemed a nice idea to post some images taken earlier that capture the magic of the Retreat, a place we used to visit a lot. Hopefully we can resume this as we are able. We have a collection of slides to music 'I have a dream' sung by Lisa Stokke (for Mamma Mia!). This is really about learning to make a slideshow video with sound and sharing it. You can view the video here. Enjoy.

Church Online

When the general lock down happened, our experience of church moved into a completely new phase of interaction. It went online each following Sunday. Our communion with the bread and drink was self-prepared from our own stores. No longer does the Anglican Church worry about priestly oversight of the sacraments it seems. Plenty Life, the church we are connected to made the change-over early. All churches are online now so as not to be blamed for any spreading of the virus. We use Zoom as a platform. It is robust and 'way better' compared to Skype which seems to lose its sound/vision coordination half way through a call. So we are glad we are using Zoom and even have a free account with it for smaller off the cuff link-ups. 

Eurasian Coot Chicks

We returned to our local wetland and found that a number of Eurasian Coot chicks had recently hatched and we skylarking about in the water. Their mother seemed to be kept fairly busy at times with the extra attention that she might not have been used to as seen on our video HERE. The music was composed and played by Phil Ackland Enjoy.