Another gorgeous day and we decided to spend the morning at the Royal Botanic Gardens. I wasn't sure it could get much better than our last visit, but it did. Amazing.
Coop wanted to walk there and it was a good thing we did. On our way we saw four cockatoos just hanging out by the footpath. We stopped to watch them for a while. Coop had a lot to say to them. Tucker just made cockatoo noises at them. Then once at the gardens, we saw a another cockatoo perched atop the sculpture taking a drink and cooling off. Today was another hot one....
As we were walking through the gardens, Coop spotted three birds- an adult and two babies walking through the bushes. He thought they were ducks, but we weren't sure. Their legs were longer and their heads smaller. We tried to get a better look at them, but they were pretty well camouflaged by the the shrubbery. We walked on a bit and then turned back to see if we could see them again and we did! This is what we saw:
When we got home we quickly downloaded our pictures and searched the web to see what kind of bird they were. We learned that these are Buff Banded Rails which is the same bird, I think, that we saw in the lobby of a local office building underneath a Christmas tree a few weeks ago.
As we continued on, Coop once again spotted a mother bird and two chicks walking across the footpath into some bushes. We followed them for a bit, but seemed to have lost them. We stopped for a snack and then headed back out and there they were! Right there in the pond in front of us. The little chicks are adorable- so cute and fuzzy. They look a bit like Emu chicks. Coop was super impressed when the mother bird took some of the bread that someone was feeding them and gave it to her babies. I thought that was pretty neat as well. For those of you who are wondering what kind of bird these are they are Dusky Moorhens. They are beautiful and strange to look at and they make the loudest, funkiest sound I have ever heard. It sounds a little like someone blowing their nose very loudly. :)
We came across these duck and thought their blue bills were beautiful. The one in the front was trying really, really hard to get Tucker's chocolate chip cookies so he "hid" it in a napkin. Pretty sure that didn't fool the duck. I am pretty sure this is a Gray Teal Duck, but not 100%.
Here are some more of one of my favorite birds- the Masked Lapwing. I think they are really cool looking with their yellow masks.
Of course we had to visit the pond again to see if we could see any eels. Sure enough they were there slipping through the murky water. We also saw fish this time which we had not seen before.
This are lilly pads that when we first saw them early this spring were sparse and just laying atop the water. This time, they must have been 3 feel high with pink flowers. We heard a new sound coming from below the plants, but never did discover who or what it was.
As I said earlier, it was a gorgeous day. Blue skies, warm temperatures and sparkling waters. Here is a photo taken from the gardens looking toward Sydney Harbour. Just to the left is the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
One reason Coop wanted to return to the gardens today was to visit the greenhouse. It is shaped like a pyramid and we have talked about going in, but never have. It is actually a "tropical center" and today we paid the entry fee and went it. Whenever Coop talked about it as a greenhouse, Tucker would say, "blue house." He is beginning to catch on!
The center itself is fairly small with 3 "rooms" filled with native Australian tropical plants. We whizzed through it pretty quickly as there was not that much to see especially for the little ones. But, we had fun climbing the stairs and watching the water falls. It was quite warm and humid in there and it was really nice to get outside into the fresh air when we were done.
After the tropical center, I looked at my watch and couldn't believe that it was already noon! We had been at the gardens since ten am and the time had flown by. We stopped for another snack under the shade of a tree and the boys played a bit. Then it was time to go back home to relax and for Tucker to have a nap.
I think this was one of the best mornings we have spent together. We had so much fun looking at all the plants and animals. We laughed, we ate, we took pictures, we shopped at the garden store and we walked- a lot. The boys were amazing- no complaints about the heat or the amount of walking we did. They were real troopers and I am so proud of them both!
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