Showing posts with label Cormorants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cormorants. Show all posts

Monday, September 20, 2010

More Valentines Park...

At the end of this week I will be returning to Los Angeles, so I am spending as much time as possible watching my favourite Great Crested Grebe chick- because who knows where he'll be when I return?....

In my last post I wrote about my love of the patterns made by the birds' movements in the water, so will start with some more illustrations of this. First my Grebe chick rushing through the water:


And now just some bird-less water that I liked:


And here is a Little Grebe bobbing about:


And here is one of the parent Great Crested Grebes briefly allowing the chick to be near him (or her) as they both preen themselves:


And here the chick continues preening and showing off his elegant neck!


Now a Pochard preens himself, the sunlight catching his beautiful burnished head:


I'm always attracted by the comedy and craziness in birds- here the Pochard contorts himself:


And now it's the Grebe chicks turn to shake a leg:


And now try out his wings:


Herons are always cartoon birds and this one on the island does some odd preening poses:




Lastly, I will turn to pairs of birds: I find it fascinating how often they "mirror" each other. The Egyptian Geese constantly do this. First, they are standing together on the island's shore:


then they simultaneously turn round and retreat into the bushes...


I will end with the two adult Grebes who are constantly swimming together in unison now that they have rejected their poor,lonesome, cheeping offspring!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Valentines Park: Herons and Cormorants

I can't leave Valentines Park without mentioning the return of a Heron and Cormorant to the Boating Lake. Over the last few weeks a Heron has been frequenting the island on which the Swans nested:


One would like to think that he was one of the adults who nested on the Fish Pond island- but who knows?

After fishing in his usual upright manner, he surprized me by trying out a new technique: lying low on the ground- in the hopes the fish would not see him?



Two cormorants have also frequented the lake. Here one of them joins the Heron on the island:



And here he joins the Swan family:


Now he goes fishing in the water...


And now he returns to the bank...


And now he spreads his wings to dry them in the sunshine...


Apart from this, the Cormorant is a regular sight on the boats:


I will conclude with a pretty hybrid (?) Goose I saw on the lake's bank: