Birds of the feathered variety

About a ten minute walk from our house, there is a beautiful lake which boasts a few families of swans. The black variety are rumoured to only really breed in the springtime, but here and there they produce offspring at other times and fool all the experts. This little family appeared a couple of weeks ago to the immense surprise of all and sundry - especially given that the weather has been extremely cold. There was even an article in the local newspaper warning that Mama black swans tend to be extremely aggressive and will protect their cygnets fiercely - to this end, people have been advised to keep their distance since you don't want to take one of these on!


The white variety of swans that are also found at Virginia Lake were cruising around in the very cold looking water, seemingly unaware of all the fuss being made of the new arrivals in the black camp.

These guys are found wherever there is any decent sized puddle - they abound at places like lakes, but it has been amazing to us that they are EVERYWHERE! In spite of being so 'common' their plumage is still singularly spectacular. This one was apparently fearless, marching right up to our car and faffing about looking hungry - we assume ever hopeful that we would toss some sort of titbit in his direction. His entourage of females kept a little way back, but were no less eager to see if we were going to be worth the effort or not!
This fellow attached to the entrance at our back door, is a Pukeku - pronounced 'poo kair koo' - and has the most incredibly large feet! They feature on one of the television advertisements here and their walk is unbelievably comical since they have to lift their feet up so high to avoid stumbling.

We had never even heard of them before we got here, but folks we know in Hamilton toss bread bits over their balcony each evening at about 5 - for the family of Pukekus that live in the gorge beside their house. Evidently, from about 4.45 every day, they are strutting about glancing hopefully upwards in anticipation of the bread bits!

Here is a real Pukeku - huge feet and all! The picture doesn't really do the amazing blue colour of the bird justice. This guy was ambling about at Virginia Lake the other day when we took a stroll around - although it looks as though he is about to take a dive into the lake, he decided against that idea so we don't yet know if they are fond of the water or not!

Dis al!