The pond has water again

Late this afternoon, I went to Western Springs Lake to look for Weweia, the New Zealand dabchick. Probably too late in the day. The spoonbills were in two trees for the coming night. I counted 30. When I first saw them at the Springs a couple or so years ago, there were no more than eight. It does seem as though the colony is flourishing. I tried to get a good photo of an Australian Coot; I see them every time I go to the Springs and they get little more of my attention than I give to the ubiquitous gulls.

Yet I almost always am able to spot a good photo op for a Pukeko. Perhaps it's a little bit of favouritism. There were good photos of Putangitangi, and I witnessed an unusual interaction between a juvenile black swan and an adult. The younger bird was attacked and driven away from the family group by the older bird.

The rain we have had over the last few week has resulted in most of the smaller lakes/ponds now having water. The setting for today's blip would be called a billabong in Australia. Since I was last at the Springs, what was a dried mud expanse now contains water, providing superb reflections, and somewhere for a pair of black swans to swim quietly.