Protective mother

Indeed, it was a protective whanau (extended family). Presumably this is a mother pukeko with her chick, and she was staying very near with full attention on the chick. Out of shot to the left were three other pukeko, one looking like a young bird, only about a year old. 

This was my last photo taken on another walk at Western Springs Lake while S was at her yoga lesson. My photos reflected the number of chicks, or young birds. An Australasian Coot was feeding bits of bread (thrown by passing humans) to the young bird she was looking after. The putangitangi pair with two large ducklings were relaxed about humans being nearby. But the duck very assertively chased away a couple of mallards which to me appeared to be minding their own business.