In mid-February we had a solitary Pacific Black Duck swimming around in the dam.  This was the only time we’d sighted one until this morning.  When I got up there were two Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, three Crimson Rosellas and two Pacific Black Duck searching for food in the grass near the house.  Just after I took this photo, the cockatoos swooped the ducks a number of times, and the ducks flew away.   I was so surprised to see cockatoos swooping such large birds that I forgot to keep photographing.  While the cockatoos are bossy, and do push their way in if there is birdseed on the feeder, I have never seen them target another bird  in this way.  They are quite happy to co-exist with the Australian Wood Duck we have here often, so I’m not sure why they did not tolerate the newcomers.  I can’t help wondering if they knew the Pacific Black Ducks did not belong here, and were in some way defending their territory.  If so, I can’t imagine the battle was over food as they eat quite different things.

Pacific Black Duck have such striking facial markings, so it was lovely to have an opportunity to examine them at close range.

The original post on the swimming Pacific Black Duck can be viewed here.