We munched our lunch with the duo of cormorants in view - and the trickling of a waterfall.
Then, a third flew into view.
We moved on...and found a row of Canada geese strolling and nibbling.
We encountered a pheasant by the duck pond.
Then a statue penguin...
The next bird-connection of our day out ewas a giant welly/gum boot...
...depicting birds one might see. It came with some info.
So, I took some pictures of the many temporary sculptures at Leonardslee....
Several were of birds - like the owl....
...a naked pigeon lover.....
...another cockatoo.....
(and here is another real one from when I lived in NSW, Australia.)
....another owl...
...and then onto a real bird in the tree.
Actually, two real birds....cormorants - taken at our lunch picnicing spot, I thought - but maybe thats in the next batch.
Alas, I could not depict the snipe in my pictures...only the ducks.
I shifted position and tried again, but you may or may not spot them.
This was the best I could manage. We ended our excursion to WWT Arundel with a viewing at the new feeder station, where the tame robins hang.
We popped into Swanbourne Lake on our way home, and I took just one shot of some pigeons - with the gulls and other water birds.
Our next trip was to Leonardslee Gardens & they had the sculptures display finished this trip. On our last excursion they only had half in situ.
There, amongdst the camelia bushes, were a sculpted pair of cockatoos. This reminded me of when I tried to grow sunflowers in the back yard in Wollongong. A flock of cockatoos flew in from the city park across the road and devoured the seeds before I could!
Here is a reminder of what the real thing looks like.
Meanwhile, Mr Silvertag Bewick was gliding about the pond, much calmed.
We walked past...but I still took another shot of Mrs Silvertag Bewick.
It was very pretty - but the bird of prey I intended to take a picture of was absent, it seems.
The tree got in the way of the geese, but it also turned into a pretty picture.
You might not see them, but along with the ducks there are a few snipe.
There were a few cormorants on the island, though.
This was the full view....with a great bar separating two windows of the hide in the middle. An island of cormorants, gulls, etc to the left, and an inlet with snipe and ducks to the right.
Still staring from the hide at the shelducks, at WWT Arundel.
Next we watched the Bewicks.
Mrs Silvertag Bewick was on land, while Mr Silvertag Bewick splashed in the waters of their shared lake.
The Bewicks are my favorite part of the WWT reserve....
This one is Mrs Silvertag, looking towards me....maybe remembering.
But as that is a lot of Bewick piccies.....
Have one of Naboo to end today's post.
My main focus was the magpie goose - but many other of the lake's inhabitants showed up in my pictures.
Next up, the trumpeter duo.
The ID board depicts the pied wagtail clearer than my pictures can, as I usually am some distance away and in a city street or with beach background when sighting them.
We then went into the sandmarten hide...
....to see shelduck.
You can also see Canada Geese, Seagulls,......
Turning to the right, we got a differing view - an island with many seagulls and some shelduck. of course, you would not expect to see them at this time of year, only from April to Septemberish time.
Here are a couple of close up shots of the spectacled eiders...& scaly-sided merganzers.
I think you can see why each species got it's name....
There definitely spectacle like shapes around the male spectacled eider, if only patches on the female.
And, if you look carefully, some of my merganzer shots show their speckled 'scaly' sides.
Eventually, we moved along...
...to the lake with magpie geese, radjah shelduck, seagull, ....
Where we stayed for a short time before moving onwards.
