Buffalo Bay Waves

I took this picture at Buffalo Bay, South Africa. Various storm fronts moved around the coast resulting in strong wind and spectacular waves.

Coot building nest

I photographed this Coot building a nest near Sedgefield, South Africa. Its chick is growing up fast and it must be preparing for the next breeding season. The chick is still young and dependant on its mother. When eating etc. it learns by imitating its mother. It watched its mother building and would then go to the nest and also start 'building' while the mother was away gathering building material. The photo of the mother (above) was taken a few days after the picture of the chick. The original photo of the mother, taken at the same time as that of the chick, did not come out great. It is difficult to get detail into a picture of a black bird taken against a colourful background.

Coots are fairly common in all fresh water dams, swamps and lakes. They are aggressive and will chase away much bigger birds that comes too close to it's nest. While building three Egyptian Geese started what appeared to be a fight close by. The Coot and her partner chased all three of them from the little dam.