Tuesday 3 March 2015

From a distance

On Saturday, while I was staying at my friend's home, we went for a walk at One Tree Point, a bit further up the harbour from where I usually take photos.  The tide was way out, just turning to come in.

  
We were surprised to see a pair of paradise ducks at the water's edge.  That's the female leading her male.  She is the prettier of the two.  It's not unusual to see them around but they are usually on land, grazing on pasture or on wetlands.  Fresh water wetlands, not sea water.  We have a lot of them here on the farm and don't take a lot of notice of how noisy they are.  I don't think I've ever seen them at the beach before.


The heron was every bit as noisy as the ducks - and a lot more wary.  The little oyster catcher took no notice of us, leaving it to its noisy neighbour to sound the alarm when we got too close.


Other than the birds, one lady walking her dog shared the beach with us. And then, as the tide came in, the birds disappeared, too.  It was hard to remember that there in the distance, to the right of centre, is a city of 50,000 people.  And right in the centre of the photo we spotted my mountains.


I used the zoom to be sure and yes, there they are, the Uppity Downities.  The peak closest to here is the middle of the three on the left. 

8 comments:

  1. Hello Pauline,

    You are never far from home with those mountains in the background. Isn't it interesting to watch birdlife. The other week I was in the right spot at the right time. Down at the river and a man asked me if I wanted to stop and help with unloading some Swans that were coming back from the vets. Helped carry the male swan to the river. They were re-releasing three cygnets that have Angel wings through being fed to much protein when young.

    Have a great week.

    Happy days.
    Bev.

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  2. The Paradise Ducks remind me of so many places on our travels: we did see a lot of them. I will always remember the very first time you stopped the car to show me the Uppity Downities and they have been magic for me ever since.

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  3. Beautiful pictures Pauline!
    I love the first one with the boat :)
    Have a beautiful day
    【ツ】Knipsa

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  4. Hello Pauline, beautiful images from your walk on the beach! It looks like a lovely spot for a walk.. The ducks and heron are a neat sighting.. Have a happy day and week ahead!

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  5. Love the wide-open spaces and the fact that you pretty much had the area to yourself!!

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  6. Love the shot with the sailboat sitting on the tidal flat. It looks so lonely and abandon.

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  7. The proximity of beach to mountains is wonderful! It would make me happy to be so close to both.

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  8. Seascapes are always so moving, I find. Nowhere is the world more peaceful than on a beach when the tide is out. And the sands are free of sun worshippers.

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