I thought I better maximise my outdoor time while it was not raining, so after my Wolli Creek walk I headed to St Peters and spent a couple of hours in Sydney Park. Unfortunately like previous recent visits, I did not manage to spot any of the birds I was after. But I still had an interesting time, and it was nice to be outdoors.
I did see a range of birds. Here are some –
Eurasian Coots and a Black Swan
The Black Swan had climbed up onto the Coot’s nest. The nest was empty at the time and both the Coots flew over at heart speed and then flew at the Swan. The Swan, although much bigger backed off.
The Black Swan made this gesture, and then swam away. The Swan is one of a pair. Perhaps they are looking for a nesting site too? The Coots had just built a nest nearby, that had been submerged in the recent rain, and had been busy building this new nest.
They have one chick at present. I think it is about 12 days old. I think this is the only one living from four, that I had seen earlier. On my last visit, a Pelican had tried to eat it, but I think eels may be the main predator. I have not seen any raptors at the park for a while.
Sydney Park is a great place to photograph Reed Warblers.
And when you are looking for other birds and can’t find them, there are always Welcome Swallows to try and photograph.
There is an amazing abundance of stinkhorns, but they are all looking a bit washed out by the rain.
