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g'day aIl ,
I received this mail direct, which I
believe will interest list members
Regards,
Bob Forsyth, Mount Isa, NW
Queensland.
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Hi Bob
I live near Lake
Ellesmere, close to Christchurch, New Zealand, which has the largest Black Swan
population in NZ - many thousands of birds. The birds feed and raise chicks
(they nest "colonially" which is interesting, the nests sometimes only metres
apart) both in the shallow waters and wet margins of the lake, as well as making
extensive use of surrounding pasture, much to farmers' chagrin.
So, to
answer your questions,
- they are regular users or farmland here (as in any wet temperate area
adjacent to water bodies in my experience)
- and are quite capable of taking off from land.
- Seeing them run toward water as one approaches (often quite long
distances) with cygnets is rather more
ungainly!
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