Bart Bear's Blog

 

Our apartment is only 15 minutes drive from the centre of Canberra, the national capital. Our suburb is classed as inner north. However, all of these photos have been taken during some of our late afternoon walks. Within 10 minutes walk of home we have large areas of grassland reserve and a system of overflow ponds (some of them quite big lakes) that help prevent flash flooding after heavy rain.There is a large pond just a few minutes walk away and it has a large population of waterbirds. Ducks, grebes and swamp hens live here, and swans and pelicans often visit. The birds are not scared of people and follow us around the paths, just in case we have something edible with us. I have been watching a mother swamp hen raising her 2 chicks. I first noticed them about 3 weeks ago. At that stage they were little balls of dark fluff with legs and squeaky voices. A week ago we had really heavy rain and the ponds all overflowed. I was worried that the chicks may have been washed away because they can't fly yet, but they survived and are doing fine. They have their first real feathers now and can swim really fast. Just before Sunset is the time when gum trees are at their prettiest, the soft red light makes their bark glow. Kangaroos are out feeding and the young males are fighting to determine who is going to be boss of the mob when the "old man" roo dies. Add in a Full Moon rising and you have a superb walk, only 10 minutes walk from home and a quarter-hour drive from the CBD. I love living here, with nature in the heart of the city.