Back with the grounded carp. These can stay alive a while out of water, and this one was still breathing and twitching an hour later. While it was still alive the swamphens had started on it. You wouldn’t want to be unconscious after falling off your bike in Commonwealth Park. The snap shows the removal of one of the large scales. The first swamphens had a tentative pick and a nibble but were a bit nervous when Mr C flicked a tail or pectoral fin. In the end they waited for it to become less demonstrative. Meanwhile at another spot a swamphen (upper right) was enjoying a fish at the less active end of the grounded carp spectrum. It was feeding on it for at least 30 minutes, picking in particular under the pectoral fin and inside the gill cavity.
