317: more baby coots

Down at the Lagoon today I saw more baby coots. This is a newer group, hatched not so long ago. The ones I have seen previously have grown bigger, and have now lost most of the yellow and red colouring on their heads.

303: coot mealtime

Last weekend I spied some newly hatched coots at the Lagoon, hidden away on a nest in some rushes. This morning four young were outside on another nearby nest, and the parents were bringing them food. Ahhh it was lovely to watch!
(I think the large egg nearby might be an abandoned swan egg: another lady watching told me she had seen a swan on this nest last weekend.)

291: coot nesting

 Last year was the first year I discovered coots nesting at the Lagoon here in Palmy, then went back again in a few weeks to see their interesting young ones once they had hatched.  I remembered that today, when I spotted a few unexpected ducklings in the Square, so I decided to head off down to the Lagoon for a wander. Here is one of the Australasian coots I saw nesting, only a few metres from the lagoon edge.

90: 2 White Ducks

A friend was up from Dunedin and we took out our cameras together for a photographic stint at the Lagoon today. There was heaps going on. A coot parent was still with a young one, so perhaps that was from a second clutch. Several swans were into some vigorous live action- flapping wings, fluffing up their back feathers, splashing lots of water around. I had never seen such a ruckus from the swans! And we saw a small shag drying itself off on the banks.

But of all the photos I took, I decided on this 'simple' one for this blog. I liked the sharpness of the colour contrast between the brilliant white of the ducks and the dark sheen of the water.

17: Coot at the Lagoon

Coot at the Hokowhitu Lagoon

In the springtime I visited the Lagoon several times, and was lucky enough to see a coot sitting on a nest, and also to see young coot just hatched. Today I saw quite a few coot- some were slightly smaller and I imagine they are the babies from springtime. I am always fascinated by their feet ;-)