It's late afternoon ... of a typical sunny winter's day ... a bit cold but bright and colorful ...
... the female Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos ) is shaking the wings ... and gets caught on photograph in a very lovely pose ...
... the Cormorants (European shags - Phalacrocorax aristotelis, exactly) are spreading their wings from time to time ...
... to get them dry, as usual ... and fit to flying ...
... from a different angle they are dark silhouettes, almost shadows, basking in the sun.
On trees and bushes ...
... around the pond ...
... many Common blackbirds (Turdus merula) are posing on the twigs or jump around in between sudden short flights.
This one is hidden in the ivy ...
... and this one is very visible, because of the background - the facade of one of the houses not far from the water.
All of them are males ... watching and defending their territories ... in their eyes this is a patchwork of small but precious properties essential for reproduction.
On the tallest oak tree in the area ... on the top of the highest twig ... a few Common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are resting, sunbathing and watching something in the distance ... probably the sea ... the bay with many small white boats floating around.
It's a very ordinary ... very quiet and uneventful atmosphere ... but still, kind of enchanted and filled with things to discover ... and now ...
... is time to go a bit back in time ...
... back to the early morning ... to take a look at the childhood of one absolutely ordinary day :) and observe its growth and changes ... here you can see the Great white heron (Ardea alba), for the first time in this series ... slowly walking along the banks, searching for fish ... although at first glance, and without the other bird in the picture for comparison, very similar to the Little egret, that is present in almost every episode ... this is a much bigger bird, more than double ... and the first difference to notice ... it has a yellow beak instead of the Egret's black one.
It's an impressive bird ... with a very long neck ... looks a bit like some feathered albino giraffe on this shot :)
Ten minutes later ... when the sun changed the colors of the surroundings into a much warmer palette ...
... the Heron was on the oak tree ... and very soon, flew away.
I continued my walk around the water ...
... and almost stepped on a sleeping bird ... the female Mallard has a very effective mimetic colors and patterns, ideal for this mostly brown surroundings.
When she opens her eyes ... and gets the beak out of the plumage ... becomes slightly more visible.
Soon the male arrived from the water ... but she decided to take another nap.
As the sun was climbing through the clear blue sky ...
... I observed the Common moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) ...
... and the Eurasian coots (Fulica atra) ...
... through a curtain made of weeping willow twigs.
These two species ...
... often swim and feed close to each other.
On the other side of the pond ... the Little white egret (Egretta garzetta) ...
... was patiently searching for small fish in the shallow water overgrown with dense and intricate brown vegetation ...
... and some other coots ...
... were floating along the edge of the water ...
... while one of the Cormorants just came out of the pond and started shaking his plumage to get rid of some water ... just like a dog after the bath ... and here ends this morning chapter of the post ... on the following picture ...
... is a view at the pond around noon.
The domestic goose ... some variation of the Chinese breed, derived from the Swan goose... is calmly floating in blue ...
... some Coots are standing in the shallows ...
... while others are swimming around ...
... one of the Cormorants is drying his feathers ...
... and you can always catch some Coot in the background.
The female Mallard is watching the world from a branch, very low on the willow ...
... the male soon passes by, and they continue together through the muddy water.
A bit later ... a few hours into the afternoon ...
... the atmosphere changes again ...
... birds are the same - but the light is different.
Barely visible through branches and twigs ... high on the only large weeping willow by the pond ...
... the Little white egret is resting and observing her surroundings.
Slowly and carefully ...
... I changed my place and position ...
... and took these pretty different shots ...
... in different light.
A bit later ... in the late afternoon ... that corresponds to the beginning of the post ...
... I was observing a group of Mallards ...
... males and females ...
... in their everyday activities ...
... it was nothing special to talk or write about ...
... but a lot to look at.
These birds are beautiful.
Not far from there ...
... on some bushes close to ... and above ... the watter ...
... the male Blackbird was taking care of his dark plumage ...
... he just did a little bath in the shallows ...
... and now is ready ...
... to continue his territorial duties.
The light changes fast at this time of the day ... especially on the relatively short winter day ...
... the Coot is feeding on some floating plants ...
... near the center of the pond ...
... the night will soon fall on everything ... and so ... now ...
... with this closing shot ... a morning view at the sleepy waters ... and the domestic goose resting in the grass ... is time to end this ordinary episode ... as always in these posts on Steemit, the photographs ... and the GIFs made from some of those photographs - are my work.
[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 44.818655 lat 13.942368 long d3scr)