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I can't match the ensemble of Emus at
Tidbinbilla, but witnessed some behaviour involving birds and water that I found
interesting.
Firstly, a beautiful male Satin Bowerbird visited
our bird bath on Sunday. After drinking, it proceeded to a full
body immersion, ruffling its feathers while in the water, (practically doing
backstroke) then moving to the edge and ruffling its feathers again.
It repeated the process at least six times at approx. 30 second intervals before
flying off.
Then today I was working at a property with a
swimming pool in Forest when I disturbed a Pacific Black Duck which had
been concealed in poolside vegitation. It simply dropped into the
pool and proceeded to spend at least the next hour swimming contentedly and
eating the plentiful Box Elder seed pods which were floating on the
surface. It also plucked insects periodically from the rock slabs
overhanging the edges (its a lovely pool!). The owner told me it had been
around for a while and that last year there had been a pair behaving in the same
fashion. The pool had not yet been chlorinated for summertime use, so I
guess when you're a duck water is water. It made me wonder what is the
incidence of wild ducks visiting suburban pools in similar fashion.
Cheers
Rod
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