Well, quite interesting, as Stephen Fry might say. The location was a lower pond in ‘The Sanctuary’ at Tidbinbilla. The offered snap was with a compact camera and was cropped and inverted to show a slightly more teasing angle. A deceased waterfowl was bobbing about, being pulled this way and that rather as I have seen a bread roll being harassed by piranha in Venezuela. Mark Clayton and Chris Davey, with the practised eye of professional naturalists were able to discern a reptilian head or two in the murk, and concluded that the common long-necked tortoise was at wurk. When first noticed the carcass was receiving attention from at least 8 LNTs. As to the bird species, I am not sure. Mark thinks a PB Duck, and this is most likely given the venue. The strong-looking feet were olive-yellow. I had first thought a young magpie-goose because of the long neck, but too much webbing on the feet, I think now. The LNT feeds on fish, yabbies, tadpoles and such. The waterfowl had lost its head somewhere along the way. How that might have happened is another question. Surely not a fox in the fortified Sanctuary??
