My last post featured Butter and Egg Rd in the Moonlight sub-district of Waitaki, a little south of Macraes. We couldn’t resist driving up the gravel road to the end where we came to Nenthorn Road and turned right, immediately encountering this wonderful farm pond complete with black swan couple and a flock of paradise ducks (paradise shelducks). The rock forms are typical of Central Otago landscapes which have lots of schist rock. This part of Waitaki is very near to Central Otago. New Zealand. ~photos taken by Nigel
Click on any photo to enlarge.
Moonlight Pond is the name I’ve bestowed. As beautiful as it is, it probably doesn’t have a formal name – it looks as though it’s just a farm pond.
Black swans, and paradise ducks on the far side. The ducks quickly took off.
In the next photo the ducks are already airborne.
Black swan or Australian black swan, Cygnus atratus.
~link 1 : interesting info plus poem by Australian poet Banjo Paterson
~link 2 : info, photos of adult/cygnets, and distribution map
Text by Liz, photos by Nigel; Exploring Colour (2021)
Exploring Colour 
there is a wonderful old song called Black Swan by jazz singer Nina Simone. These are great!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve only seen one black swan in the sort-of-wild. It showed up a few years ago at a marina where I was working. It hung around for a few days, and then swam off across the lake. We decided it must have belonged to someone with a pond, and it just took a notion to travel.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I rarely see a white swan! Black swans are the norm here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s really interesting, Liz. In truth, I rarely have seen any swan in the wild. I think here they tend to be more northerly birds — but I don’t know.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A beautiful spot, Liz! It’s neat to see those swans out in the wild and the landscape with all those rocks is amazing. The shapes and placement are very intriguing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The rocks are utterly fantastic in this area and also throughout Central Otago. Makes travel in this area super interesting 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
All those huge rocks and the mist do give it a mystical feeling.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Possibly the best weather in which to see this location!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s sad to read that the population of these beautiful birds at Lake Ellesmere crashed in the 1970s. They’re an amazing sight for someone who’s used to swans being white! Love your romantic name for the pond. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The local district is named Moonlight and I assume this derives from an old-timer bloke with the surname ‘Moonlight’ – saw his portrait on the wall at Stanleys Hotel. A guy with high boots and an equally long-legged canine friend – he looked like a notable ‘somebody’!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great surname!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is! Sadly I don’t recall ever meeting anybody with the surname of ‘Moonlight’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Magical
LikeLiked by 1 person
Truly. I’m glad the weather wasn’t ‘perfect’.
LikeLiked by 1 person