moorhen

There were chicks around but as soon as the Moorhens saw me coming the chicks went into cover.

Got a range of shots of two duelling moorhens, this one with the raised claw almost looks like a scene out of Aliens. More shots of the clash on www.secretcornwall.org.uk/2012/03/moorhen

Another from yesterday

I photographed this Moorhen wading in a shallow part of Koya pond.

Uncommon resident of Singapore. Camera settings: 1650mm ISO160 1/200s f/3.5 -1EV.

Moorhens always somehow look wrong perched on branches. But I once had the even more bizarre sight of a Water Rail on top of a bush.

This was one of three birds which were involved in a fracas on the lagoon.I think this is the smaller female,who retreated to a place of tranquility,whil'st the 2 males continued their scrapping. I liked the lighting in this shot,she is looking across the water into the evening sunshine.

What you don't expect on your washing line.

Older pic. Down at Sherwood Forest on holiday a while back, and came across this junior Moorhen on a "this is how you do it" excursion with mum. Pic gives me a feeling of "help - I'm stuck...!", however mum is close by and baby's fine.

The only one I got of a chick with it's foot raised and spread was, sadly, only in focus on the foot, not on the chick's head. :( Oh well. Here's one of it's mum showing off her big foot. Don't know if I'd dare scratch my ears with those big toes!

I think I'll end the moorhen series on this note (two more to post, but for those who read left to right this one will appear as the last).

Well, one of her three chicks, that is. This was another near miss shot. I got two shots like this one, but missed the moment between when she actually passed a nibble of something (a bit of waterlily root?) to the chick. This missed moment was a bit of serendipity. Next time I have a chance to...

After baby came ....

Baby came out of the reedbed!

We saw quite a bit of activity from the Marsh Harriers, but all pretty distant. Loads of moulting ducks, which kept getting spooked for no reason that I could see. This Moorhen came and swam in front of the hide and I was quite pleased with the result. Still in Scotland Chris;)

"I said No!!"

Another of daily exercise.

Daily exercises - Big stretch please!

The adult appeared shortly after the young'uns went back into the water.