canberrabirds

it's a hard life for a little wood duck

To: Cog line <>
Subject: it's a hard life for a little wood duck
From: sandra henderson <>
Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2012 12:00:12 +1000
This morning I walked past a dam on Farrer Ridge. there was a pair of wood ducks with 6 tiny ducklings happily swimming around. I turned around further up the hill - a fox was running along edge of dam, but was scared off by a jogger. about an hour and a half later I came back past the same dam.  A solitary duckling, being pursued and pecked by four adult wood ducks, an Australian raven swaggering along the edge of the dam, and numerous currawongs and a pair of butcherbirds close by.  After chasing the poor youngster around for a while, the four adult ducks flew off, leaving it alone on the dam. What happened to its 5 siblings? its parents? I suspect by now it's also gone to the great pond in the sky...
Elsewhere - at least 6 Noisy friarbirds, choughs and magpie larks building nests, altercations between red wattlebirds and noisy friarbirds, and between pied currawongs and magpie larks.  the hardenbergias are looking magnificent, the stackhousias are just bursting into flower, and the white heaths are in full bloom. Not one  of the dog owners seemed to know what "must be on a lead" means - every single dog was running loose!
sandra h
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