Hi all,
Went for a birding walk in Centennial Park (eastern suburbs, Sydney) on
Sunday (10/4) morning. Great views of Darters at a nest over the Busby
Pond. The mother was next to the nest and the father was feeding four
young, largely downy but with the primaries growing through. Darters are
beautiful (to me) at close range, especially when side lit with early
morning sun, but to see them feeding four young at a nest on a low branch
maybe 10m away in the early morning was great. I hadn't been down to the
park for a while (obviously) so had not expected this, and was told by
someone walking their dog, who was watching them at the time, that they had
been watching the nest and that the chicks were four weeks old. There were
three other nests in that pond, which were all on an island (unlike this
one which was on the "mainland"). One had an adult female sitting on what
appeared to be at least two downy young, another had a female sitting
pretty tight on something not visible, and the fourth had a male which
appeared to be still constructing the nest.
I guess I hadn't taken much notice of how many Darters there were here -
four pairs on this lake alone, with more birds on the Duck Pond too.
Darters seem to be holding on here quite well for now.
cheers
Frank
Frank Hemmings
Curator
John T. Waterhouse Herbarium
School of Biological, Environmental and Earth Sciences
University of New South Wales
UNSW SYDNEY 2052
AUSTRALIA
Tel +61 2 9385 3274
Fax +61 2 9385 1558
CRICOS Provider Code: 00098G
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