Sunday, October 30, 2011

Lagoon Babies

This post is dedicated to Jim Fowler, who would have told me off in no uncertain terms for talking about baby coots and cute ducklings!

This morning I took a spring walk beside the Lagoon. Quite a few ducklings were around- and I know Jim would have told me exactly which species these were.


But mainly today I spent my time watching four young coots on a nest, and their two parents who were feeding them.
 Here are three of the four young coot waiting for a parent to bring food.

 The fourth young coot was on top of the nest, next to two large eggs that seemed to have been abandoned. I wondered if they were swan eggs, but perhaps they could have been goose eggs.

Now two of the young coots are up on top of the nest, near the large eggs.

 Here is a parent returning to feed the young. (You can see this other shot of feeding on my 365 blog.)

 In this shot you can see that the baby coot already seems to have some sturdy legs and feet.

 Another feeding shot...

These young coot were venturing occasionally onto the water, but never far from the nest.

11 comments:

  1. Brilliant photos Kiwi! Jim would have appreciated it. The ducks are Mallard. He taught me quite a lot about recognition!

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  2. Sorry, IO is Lorenzo the Llama!

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  3. I'm not sure they are mallard. Might be grey ducks. Will have to go and look it up now!

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  4. Hmmm I can't decide. Male must be mallard, but not sure if the female might be mallard/grey hybrid. But I guess probably mallard. Jim would have answered this dilemma with authority.

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  5. Love the shots, Kiwi, those little coots seem way too wee to be swimming/paddling in the water - should they wait at least an hour after eating or til they've got a head full of feathers?

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  6. They didn't leave the nest for very long before they were back on it. If I get back there next weekend, it will be interesting to see how much they are swimming.

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  7. As we creep towards cooler and cooler days, I am envious of these wonderful Spring events! Great pictures Kiwi.

    Michèle

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  8. Here is an interesting article that seems to muddle the debate between mallard and grey even more!
    http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/parera.html


    Michèle

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  9. Wonderful pics! Amazed at the detail. Neat!

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  10. Ted, The young coots are amazing wee birds with the details on their heads etc- love watching them grow! Michèle, the introduced mallard has interbred so much with the native grey that hybrids are now quite common I think...

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