"Ducks" better than the ducks do!

The  quick flick and cover up

At least 3 eggs! Clever aren't we?

Sorry about the quality of this one - they didn't trust me that much!

(Refer to quick flick and cover up photo)

AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE!

Babies at last - all three eggs have hatched.

Whoo-hoo!

Here you go M-L.

I've played with resizing the two photos already posted above to see what we had for feet. To me it looks like they are identical to mum's feet ?- a bit hard to tell but by looking at the colours below the little one with the water droplet on it's beak I would say so.

BTW - I was surprised to see how big their feet are in relation to the size of the birds, and these photos are the only ones that show feet (I think).

Because mostly the parents are seen swimming around or sitting on the nest, I was very surprised to get the photo of mum standing like that.

Most of my photos have been taken from the other side of the dam to the nest, especially if they are moving around. They trust me enough by the sound of my voice and the camera clicking that if I walk slowly they will generally stay put and look at me, but don't normally move around until I go away.

Initially if I appeared at all and looked like I might be heading towards them, the "quick flick and cover up" was the result. Over time I've been able to get within a couple of meters, standing on the dam wall.

I can't see much small detail from any distance over about 20 metres, and so a lot of my photography is "point, click and Hope"

We had a wind storm here the other night, which dislodged the nest site plant and sent the whole lot across to the other side of the dam.

For some reason I walked to the dam after putting the horses away in the stables, no camera - naturally.

The parents were frantic, mum was on the nest still, but dad was continuously diving and calling at the old site, which made me think that perhaps the eggs had hatched. All quite dramatic for a while, THESE BIRDS CAN FLY!

Could not believe my eyes - dad treed four Swamp Hens!

Anyway, next morning I bush bashed to a spot overlooking the nest, talking aloud all the while so that the birds knew it was me.

Basically I just pointed the camera at the nest and kept clicking, just in case. (I think I took over 100 photos)

Inside, uploaded the photos to the laptop and VOILA! Babies. This was Wednesday morning (20th March) and the babies are only about two inches long, if that.

No, we've never seen them walk on land and until the night of the storm never seen them fly either.

OK, enough drivel, here are the photos.

Chris