What wonderful pictures! The lotus are beautiful, and the birds are really cool!

Sorry you didn't get too many seeds, but you did get wonderful pics! I love that lotus bird too.

Thanks for posting this!

Thanks for the comments. There were a couple of flowers right on the edge of the water, so in a few weeks time a return visit might be on the cards (provided no one else beats me to it).

The Lotus Birds, Irediparra gallinacea, are great. They also have some other common names: Comb-crested Jacana, Lilytrotter, Skipper. Quite an amazing bird, when threatened they can dive and swim under water, and stay there with only beak and nostrils protruding in the air. Adults will sometimes carry the young under their wings, which because they have very long legs and toes looks quite crazy. Otherwise they just run around on top of water plants without sinking because of the wide spread of their feet.

Beautiful pictures, tropicbreezent! Are the leaves flat on water also lotus leaves? They look huge. By the way, I finally got arial leaves.

Yes, they are. I was a bit surprised myself as they're full sized . But that area was cleared of water plants not long back so I suspect growing so sparsely the wind knocked them down. As the growth thickens up and the water surface becomes more shaded they'll probably all be aerial again (or, all the new ones will). Congrats on the growth of yours.