This morning I took my camera and went looking for birds. I lost count, but I spotted about 20 different species all within less than a kilometre of home.

There was a pigeon, just across the road from my house

and a magpie, that wardled as it told me how it longed to slide down that slide.

There were ducks – there are always ducks. These ones were almost too sleepy in the early morning sun to notice me coming along the path.

A family of coots. The babies are past the super-cute stage, but fun to watch:

and I loved the way this baby kept heading back to mum for a piece of whatever she was foraging

And there were spoonbills, which are surprisingly quiet as they roost and roam about the trees over the swamp

So I was happy, but sometimes it’s the little things you weren’t looking for that really make you smile, like this:

or this

or even just the perfect sky above it all

Ahhhhh.