Loads of baby making, preparation for baby, caring for baby and just babies in general around today.
But first, a confession. I was trawling through the news online the other day when I read that the poet Mary Oliver had died. I'd honestly never heard of her and having now read some of her beautiful, beautiful work I can't believe it took me so long to get acquainted. Her words on nature are just perfection.
As we walked around the gardens this morning, looking in all the same spots, seeing all the same critters, we weren't bored. As we watched the Eurasian Coots nesting once again, we didn't look away, even though we have seen this process loads of times. The female sat on the nest made from uprooted water lily leaves, the male bringing her new stalks to add to the mound which she pulled into place with her beak. Occasionally she reached out and grabbed small leaves and bits and pieces of vegetation, carefully pushing them underneath her. They were so fussy, constantly creating the perfect nest. And it turns out, for good reason.
As the female stood, and turned and preened and shifted we noticed 5 speckled eggs! I tell you, sitting on eggs looks like uncomfortable work and we watched as she constantly reached under herself and moved them around, sitting back down often leaving one or two to the side. And it dawned on me that if we hadn't stopped and leant over the railing, our chins resting on our hands, and then cameras to our faces; if we hadn't taken the time to watch the same (amazing) behaviour again, we would have missed it all.
But I'm clumsy when it comes to this sort of thing, trying to explain what I mean. So I'll leave it instead to Mary:
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Eurasian Coot
Wollongong Botanic Garden
#wollongongbotanicgarden #newlife #speckledeggs #nest #maryoliver #backyardzoology
