Hardheads Breeding Update

[Julie Clark via Canberrabirds <>]

Hi All,

I headed to the Big Dam at Mulligan's Flat today as two people, Marnix and Richard J, had let me know that they had both seen a single Hardhead chick there in the past few days. A big thank you to both! 

I found the single chick without too much trouble but photographing it was another matter  as the adults kept the young one well away from the edges of the dam.  Vision around much of the water is particularly limited with all the long grass now - especially difficult  for someone as vertically challenged as I am! I did manage some long-distance shots .... not particularly good (actually pretty terrible!) but at least it gives an idea of size, age etc

After doing a loop around the dam, braving the long grass, very narrow path and a brown snake, I decided for one more attempt to see the Hardhead chick. So glad I did! While watching the single little fella on the opposite side of the dam I caught sight of a second Hardhead family - eight chicks and oh so tiny! Once again they were probably 150m away and heading out of sight but I did snap a few shots  - great content, but low on quality!

Anyway, I just wanted to share the fact that in the past two days I've been fortunate enough to see five Hardhead broods - four of them in the Gungahlin area!

Some shots of the Mulligan's broods have been added to the Flickr album. The chicks of both broods appear in a couple of the photos. It gives a good comparison of size/age.

m("N08/albums/72157717655837556","//www.flickr.com/photos/140414659");">https:

Cheers

Julie

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Julie Clark

 

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