Cute Coot Chicks & some Photobombers

I have to say that I think that Coot chicks are a little aesthetically challenged, with their red bald spots and Norman Gunston comb-overs .  But so much so, that it makes them very cute, to me anyway.

Very healthy looking Coot Chicks and Juveniles at various stages & ages at a nearby Pond & Reserve, so I took a few snaps of different families on the day to try to show how much they can change - that always amazes me with many birds, how they look at first compared to how they look as adults.  

So, a few pics of the Coots from The Pond, with two photobombers to follow:

Eurasian Coot & Chick

Eurasian Coot & Chicks

A slightly older Eurasian Coot Chick

Eurasian Coot - Juvenile.

Beautiful round chubba!

And the photobombers....while waiting for a particular family of Coots to reveal themselves, this Tasmanian Native Hen was doing the oddest dance routine I've ever seen, very distracting .  Actually, apart from living up to their nickname of "Turbo Chook" and running helter skelter away from you, and swimming, I've never seen one do anything very different before.  He was basically just holding up his wings, but letting the very strong wind whip them about every which way.  Might be something as simple as him just drying his wings out or some sort of mating dance - although no other Native Hens were nearby.  I don't know, so perhaps another fellow Tasmanian might have a better explanation than that.  Pretty entertaining to watch anyway.

And the second photobomber was this little guy, just kept landing a short way in front of where I was skulking, waiting for the coots.  Seemed like he was insisting on having his photo taken instead, so how could I resist .