Sunday Swan Watch V: Cuteness Overload

Inevitably I found some minor errors with my proof copy of Veiled in Shadows. So I have uploaded a corrected version to LightningSource (my printers). No doubt when I check it again there will still be minor issues. Unfortunately, the reality is that no matter how many times you check a book there will always be more things you can correct.

However, I guess that this time it will be a case of enough is enough and I will approve the proof. This means that the book should be available in print in two to four weeks.

In the mean time I have begun reformatting (again) the corrected copy to get it ready for a Kindle (and other e-formats) edition. It should be ready for e-readers at about the same time the print copy becomes available.

Now to Swan Watch for the week.

I found our swans with much more ease this week. The little family was grazing on the lawn bedside the pond.Mum (dad was close by) would walk a short distance with the babies waddling behind. Then the cygnets would flop down on the grass.The babies have grown, but they still resemble cute fuzz-balls more than anything else.
The cygnets look intently at blades of grassbefore reaching across with their necks, that are hinting of the sinuous length they will one day have, to pluck one that looks appetising enough.

Meanwhile mum fusses around to make sure they are safe.While dad keeps both eyes on me to make sure I am not getting too close.Another close up of the babies.On another pond a few hundred metres away a chestnut teal is also raising a family.When she realised I was watching she quickly lead her brood into some reed beds. I wandered around to the other side of her pond to see if I could get a closer shot. This gave me a bonus, I spotted this white-faced heron hunting in the thicker vegetation.He/she was quite successfully catching little fish.

Sunday Swan Watch: II

It is freezing cold today (it's supposed to be snowing in the high country around here again).

I hope it is a case of no news is good news with our swan family to be. There is still no sign of hatchlings. The swan is still sitting on her platform nest .Perhaps because of the cold, the Swan was absolutely motionless.
In fact she was so still I got a bit worried that she was dead. It was a relief when I saw her move move her head after about ten minutes.
If you look closely at her eye in these two blown up images you'll see something I couldn't see on site.

She was blinking.
There were very few other waterfowl around today,
the main exception being some Maned Geese (also known as Australian Wood Ducks)
This guy thought I got a bit close...
taking off and revealing a flash of green on his flight feathers.
Before landing again a short distance away.
These guys are unusual in the duck family, in that they nest high in trees.

And speaking of trees, as I got ready to leave all hell broke loose high up in a big river gum nearby.

It seems the swans are not the only birds with breeding on their mind.No less than three pairs of Long-Billed Corellas ...
were squabbling ...
Over a nesting hollow in the end of this broken branch.
Like most parrots, Corellas nest in hollow branches in trees. As a large cockatoo they need a decent sized hollow which can be difficult to find. So these normally sociable birds become very argumentative about who will take possession of a suitable site.

Boy they were noisy!