I hope it is a case of no news is good news with our swan family to be. There is still no sign of hatchlings. The swan is still sitting on her platform nest .
Perhaps because of the cold, the Swan was absolutely motionless.In fact she was so still I got a bit worried that she was dead. It was a relief when I saw her move move her head after about ten minutes.
If you look closely at her eye in these two blown up images you'll see something I couldn't see on site.
She was blinking.
There were very few other waterfowl around today,the main exception being some Maned Geese (also known as Australian Wood Ducks)
This guy thought I got a bit close...
taking off and revealing a flash of green on his flight feathers.
Before landing again a short distance away.These guys are unusual in the duck family, in that they nest high in trees.
And speaking of trees, as I got ready to leave all hell broke loose high up in a big river gum nearby.
It seems the swans are not the only birds with breeding on their mind.
No less than three pairs of Long-Billed Corellas ...
were squabbling ...
Over a nesting hollow in the end of this broken branch.Like most parrots, Corellas nest in hollow branches in trees. As a large cockatoo they need a decent sized hollow which can be difficult to find. So these normally sociable birds become very argumentative about who will take possession of a suitable site.
Boy they were noisy!
