Lots of fluffy

This morning started beautifully after a couple days of rainy weather.

  
Lots of animals and people were out making the most of it after being cooped up.  I saw three seperate broods of ducklings, including these paradise ducklings.

  
There were also lots of people whitebaiting, going for a run, or walking their dogs.  One small doggy was super excited to be out, and came bounding up to me.

  
There was also a particularly cute wee black poodle that looked hilarious as it ran around the park, big boofy ears bouncing up and down, unfortunately smartphones don’t come with long lenses so it’s only captured in my mind!

Birds of a different feather

After work tonight we took a walk in the gardens of Mona Vale.  Near the homestead there is a gorgeous old bridge that looks like it goes to the private homes on the other side of the Avon.  However looking at it closer tonight I realised that there was a public bench and a path leading on from the opposite end of the bridge, so of course we went across to explore.  It turned out that the path was quite short, and that mostly the bridge was just to access the private homes.  But I did discover three ducks with beautiful plumage huddled behind a tall wire fence.

  
Such gorgeous iridescent green feathers around their head, and lovely black feathers on the rest of their bodies.  I don’t think I’ve ever noticed these ducks at Mona Vale before.  So I was definitely glad we took a detour across the river, even though the path didn’t really go anywhere, we still managed to see something new and interesting. 

  
Oh and there were also little ducklings at Mona Vale.  So if you needed a reason to get out for a walk… 

First Duckings

A great deal of excitement this week as I spotted my first ducklings of the season.   

This little guy or girl was swimming with his siblings in the Heathcote river near Aynsley Tce.  A good size family, they have hatched at just the right time as the weather has gotten much warmer this week.

No doubt there will soon be many, many more!

Very late ducklings

Walking past a small park today I noticed a family of three ducklings. They were happily paddling around the sheltered section of stream that runs through it. There was only one parent duck that I could see, and the ducklings looked to be adolescent.

Fluffy Shelducks

While on a walk by the river I discovered a large family of paradise ducks.  There were at least a dozen fluffy little chicks alongside their mother and father (Paradise ducks are usually found in monogamous pairs).  The parents seemed almost oblivious to my presence as I got closer to snap some pics.  This surprised me, as I had previously seen quite aggressive shows of behaviour from Paradise ducks.  This being especially true if there are any interlopers around when there are chicks or eggs to protect.

Note that Paradise ducks are more correctly called Paradise Shelducks… see wikipedia for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_shelduck

Itty bitty peepers

It’s duckling season in Christchurch right now so I went in search of ducklings at Riccarton House and Bush . These little guys were being fed by two schoolboys on their lunch break. They were making adorable little “peep peep” noises as they scuttled about.