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This shot shows the view just before the cafe area - though on this occasion I did not bother to stop for refreshments as it was raining and I did not fancy sitting indoors - even if there was a lake outside the windows. These birds were not the subject of the photo though - but appeared in the top half. In the lower segment of my picture I photographed the star of the show - a pigeon!

Not so long ago, on my last trip, this fellow was up on the cafe roof, and a trip or two before that I got a shot of him wandering the path...but here it is napping in the drizzly shower!

Next up, we skip forward to September 2016 and here is a visitor to my windowsill. Hello Ditty! Hmm, looks like Ditty is more interested in the seeds than camera for a while...

Ditty did rest and peer in after munching her meal, though.

The next door neighbors put up a large 6 foot wooden fence yesterday, the first Saturday of the new month and I was wondering how the birds would react. I am glad to say the starlings and sparrows have already accepted it is there and gotten on with their tasks of demolishing the stock in the feeder pole!

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As well as the duck eating fallen crumbs from the feeders, I spotted a young goose. You can see the big cave-like dent the bigger birds have made by scooping up the fallen titbits in their beaks under the feeder. The duck and goose wandered around a little waiting for more bluetits or nuthatches to drop crumbs for them to scoop up. I was busy watching the great and blue tits, when suddenly I heard footsteps behind me.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The geese were invading the hide through the human doorway! Sure enough, the young goose I had seen moments before on the outside of the hide scooping fallen crumbs, was now strolling purposefully into the hide and headed directly at me - followed by a pair of hissing parents who were keeping an eye on their youngster!

The geese snatched fallen seed someone had thrown on the floor but were very quick movers and I failed to get any further decent pictures.

The younger goose grabbed, stuffed, paraded about, stared... The elder geese came up, stared and hissed at me, as if to say 'feed us you dork, that's what you guys are sposed to do'. Well sorry goose-guys, I did not buy a bag of food and it was not in a feed-the-birds area anyway!

Looking back out the hide window, I took one photo of the baby moorhen - now quite grown up - that regular readers may recall as a fluffy little thing with minute wings a couple of trips ago...

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Here is another shot of the trumpeter swan family in their lake, and a close up of the cygnets as currently are in August 2016. I was only at the reserve for one and a half hours on this excursion, but I did taken a few more pictures.

This duck was shovelling through the silty waters after sifting the slimy wet mud close to the water. It would all be water normally, but some excessive dry weather made mud patches where the water had receded. In fact, this very day, as I was on the boat trip in the reserve, was when the rain broke out a little - and not long after this photo was taken it began to rain properly rather than just a few spots.

Naturally, I dipped into a hide for shelter so I did not have to leave directly. The woodland hide always has exciting activity in it - from coal tits and marsh tits, to a robin that sat on the windowsill. What would I see on this trip? Well, a nuthatch for starters...

There was also a duck on the ground, awaiting fallen crumbs from small birds nibbling seed and peanuts in the hanging feeders...

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Two more shots of the pigeons resting or nesting on the cafe roof were taken, whilst I rested but did not nest below sipping refreshments. The pigeons were not alone on the roof - a black-headed gull was also in situ - but I only took one shot of him, most were of the pigeons.

That was indeed another trip to Arundel Wetlands reserve concluded. On my way home, I spotted a bird shaped cloud though - so took a photo of that also. By the time I took the snap, it had faded a little, but you can more or less see that it looks bird-shaped.

Next up, we are back home and here are a pair of recent residents in the tall dead trees at the back of the garden - magpies. I am quite happy that they are enjoying the trees, also that they have come to eat windfalls in my yard when I have some - but... alas, some of the smaller birds are not so keen on their presence.

What are another lot of geese doing in my next photo? Well, this past week I have had some time off from my evening job, so when I also had the afternoon free, I popped off to Arundel again! Here are a familiar family to regular readers that are now slightly older than in the last trips' shots. Also somewhat older now, the trumpeter swan and his brood - on my initial trip this year, they were nesting still.

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Oooooh, cygnets! Readers of my last blog post will know whos cygnets they are - before seeing the next picture, as I included shots of the parents at the end of my last writing. Here you go - the whole family of black-necked swans!

I was only a few steps further along when I came across these guys and the do not feed notice.

Another notice saying ducks only appears to be purposefully unread by this goose - though maybe distant cousins are permitted! The next board along reminds me of when I lived in Woolooware. We lived fairly near the Camelia Gardens in Caringbah, near enough to walk to them regularly at any rate. We would often encounter the wood ducks.

Next, I went for coffee and a juice at the cafe. I was at first busily observing the water activity, but then I happened to glance UP and saw... PIGEONS!

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Birds all over seem to learn this trick. If you are a ground/table feeder and the food is in a hanger, stand underneath and wait for little birds to drop crumbs. It works for this duck, lazy sparrow and young moorhen.

The moorhens are growing up since my last trip - no longer litle fluffy balls on stilts with tiny wings the size of their beaks, but....

Yes - there is a pigeon info board! Regular readers will know that this just had to get onto my camera. But for ordinary readers rather than pigeon lovers, I did include other boards.

Here is the swan and the board - although in the next shot or two you can see the swans better - along with some black-headed gulls.

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One last shot of that heron. I then exited the hide and strolled along further. As often appears to be the case, humans were not alone on the pathways. Dozing ducks this time had to be avoided rather than trodden upon as I made my way along.

Also, 2 parents and one child coots strolled the path as well as us viewing humans. This shot above shows the difference between adult and child fairly well, I think. The youngster then thought its parent had found something it wanted - maybe a tasty treat...

This shot is of a hole in a thatched roof - hmm, yes... If you are wondering what it is, it appears to be the entry/exit hole of the swallow family who have now apparently left. But here is an info board to remind you of what they look like, seeing as I did not get any pictures on this excursion.

This board shows a tree creeper. I have yet to spot one, although on the day of typing my notes into blogs I went to Arundel again and did manage to see a reed warbler this trip!