Monday, October 13, 2014

The intriguing Musk Duck - Swan Lake, Phillip Island

Musk duck sit low in the water "platypus like". The presence of the leathery flap under the bill indicates that this is a male
As Pizzey says "A very strange duck". This one was swimming and diving quite close to our vantage point at Swan Lake's northern bird hide. The flow of "water off the duck's back" was quite impressive.





That tail flick again in case you missed it....!



This female bird was giving itself a belly rub (the back half of the bird is twisted belly-up)
Little black cormorant - love that eye colour!
Black swan
As usual there was good numbers of Eurasian coot

We surprised a Royal spoonbill who left the water to perch somewhat precariously on the ti-tree.
A very curious Brown thornbill was actually too close to the camera!

In the bird hide Welcome swallow chicks were excited by a camera flash until a "grown-up" came to settle things down 

Bird on!

1 comment:

  1. Those Musk Ducks must take the prize as the world's ugliest ducks. That makes them all the more endearing.

    ReplyDelete