In Hay Street East Perth there is some parkland called "Queens Gardens". No, there is no apostrophe because these days illiteracy is like, brat, totally.

I believe that it may have originally been Queen's Gardens, referring to Queen Victoria. It was supposed to have been set aside as a recreational reserve in the mid-1800s but a large part of it was used as a clay pit and brickworks between 1860 and 1890, before it returned to being parkland in 1898/1899. A lot of the former clay pits became lakes, probably like the one that we see here.

I could not help but notice the long necked, yellow faced, pure white plumed wading bird in the lake. From the way it has its eye twisted down to catch sight of the reflection, neither could the bird.

Courtesy of some rather good web pages at Perth Zoo, I've tentatively identified this as an Eastern Great Egret (Airone bianco maggiore). Around 70 to 90cm long, they weigh about a kilogram. They are carnivorous, preferring a diet of fish but happy enough to eat insects, crustaceans and amphibians. Patient birds, they will stand in the shallows awaiting their prey. This one was moving around a bit, but it may have been trying to avoid the guy with the camera.

The yellow bill turns black in breeding season, at which time they will lay 2 to 6 eggs with an incubation period of 25 days. The nests are on platforms of sticks up to 15 metres off the ground.