Bird Week – Day One

I hope you like looking at pictures of wild birds because after my stunning encounter on Friday i have a load of photographs i’m going to be sharing with you all this week (and possibly beyond??) 🙂

I am however, going to be keeping you all in suspense for one more day, before i reveal my unexpected and never-before-seen (by me, nor i suspect, many people) surprise i caught hanging out on my local pond.

He’s stunning and deserves a ‘Big Build-Up!’ 🙂

So here is my small ‘entree’ before i get to the main course.  🙂

(Click on a pic to open in a new window and click again for full detail 🙂 )This somewhat unusual and unexpected sight greeted me upon my return to the small local reserve after i went to fetch my camera! I count 17 Ibis. Ibis are not unusual at this pond, i look for some every time i pass it, but most often they are wading on or near the pond banks, not ‘fence-sitting’! 🙂 🙂

A male Australasian Grebe. An excellent diving bird that feeds by scouring the beds of ponds and lakes and which has an almost fanatical devotion to swimming directly away from my camera and showing me his fluffy white bum – i think he may well be trying to tell me something? I caught him here in the 0.01% of the time he was not facing away from me! 😉

The Grebe in front as compared in size to the more typical duck size – in this case a Black Pacific Duck, looking like his feathers are almost painted on by a cartoonist. 🙂 The grebe has a small light green patch under his eye. This is a feature of the males, not a piece of weed stuck to his face. 🙂 Clearly the saying ‘like water off a ducks back’ does not apply to Grebes.

A Coot with chicks.

Watch out for greater things to come… Much greater. 🙂

love.