This morning I was eating my porridge (with homemade/grown lemon-zested applesauce) and gazing out the window as I built my list of things to do in Town this afternoon. (Sample items: buy better mousetraps and a metallic green pen; sketch rooflines; get printer's inkjet heads cleaned; research inner-Sydney architecture of the 1970s; etc).
This musing was interrupted by loud quacking and I watched in facination as a pair of Paradise ducks determinedly chased away a big hawk. This adds to my suspicion that the ducks are nesting. Thelocal big group of ducks have been pairing off for a few weeks and seem to be defending territories- often centred on a hilltop or little mound of open ground. All this is a bit confusing to me because my limited avian assumptions were that birds nested in the spring and ducks laid eggs in the reeds around ponds.
Paradise Ducks seem to remain paired up and fiercely defend their territory against all comers (a bit like geese in that regard - did you know they used flocks of geese to defend the gates of Rome in ancient times. Formidable!)
ReplyDeleteJust to add that the Paradise Ducks on the Waikouaiti coast will lurk on parts of the Karitane peninsula (including near the edge of cliffs) as well as in farm paddocks (including amongst the horses at the stable at Karitane). They remain loyal to their territory wherever they pick.
ReplyDeleteHello back meliors! no, no news on the job interview...probably due to the fact that i dont remember giving the interviewer my contact details... :P
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