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.
