The Young Swans Learning To Fly

 

 

Looking back to  June and Look at them now

This little cygnet was learning to survive,

and now it is learning to fly.

 

 

 

 

Clear the runway; Here I come.

 

 

 

 

Hey, I’m paddling on water. Honk…Honk!

 

 

 

 

These wings sure come in handy.

 

 

 

 

Need a little more speed.

 

 

 

 

Can you believe this. We are about to fly!

 

 

 

 

Hey! Wait for me.

 

 

 

 

Lift off….We did it!!! We are flying.

 

 

 

 

And the crowd cheers

 

 

 

 

Okay, Now for the landing. Mission Accomplished.

 

 

 

 

From Baby Cygnets to Beautiful Young Swans

Here are the swans and cygnets from May to The end of September 2012. I hope you found this Series interesting. I know I sure enjoyed following this swan family, I like to call, “The Class Of 2012. They all past accept for one little cygnet that didn’t make it. I think it is pretty amazing that 8 out of the 9 cygnets lived to become these Beautiful young swans who will one day have a family of their own.

 

All photos and written script by Dianne © dsphotocats

 

Hope to find you all well, and enjoying the Seasons of Life.

God Bless one and all.

Dianne :)

Red-Tailed Hawk

 

 

Red-Tailed Hawk Coming In For The Landing

 

 

 

I  cropped this photo from the original photo above, so you could get a better look.

 

 

My husband and I decided to pack up the cameras and take a Saturday afternoon drive. The sky was sunny and blue when we left , but wouldn’t you know it, as we headed out of town the sky  became grey, and it started to snow, and the sun disappeared behind the blanket of grey. We decided to change our direction and headed down an old country road that we haven’t been on before. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a rather large bird perched in a tree in the distance. I parked the van on the side of the road , and grabbed my camera which had a 55 -  250mm lens, and walked toward the bird in the distance, tromping through the deep snow. As I tried to get close enough to take a decent photo, it flew away to another tree in the distance , and so I quickly took this photo. I never did get closer and it soon flew away out of sight. I was very thankful to get to see this bird, which at that time I had no idea what it was, until I got home and looked it up in my book. I believe it to be a Red-Tailed Hawk. If I am wrong please correct me. But it does look identical to what I saw in my bird book.

Wouldn’t you know it! As we headed back towards home it was sunny with blue sky. It was a balmy – 6c degrees out. But you know I am happy because I got to see this beautiful hawk in flight, and hear it sheik as if telling me to go away, I am camera shy. I am camera shy too, but I don’t sheik. :)  This was a first for me. I have never seen a Red –Tailed Hawk up until this day. Rest assure, I will be taking that road less travelled again, Lord willing.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day. 

xx’s Dianne :)

Nesting Update #2

 

Male Canada Goose (Father to be)

 

Time For A Drink In Between Activities

 

Female Canada Goose (Nesting)

 

I discovered that this pair of Canada Geese have a nest on the same rock island as the pair of Mute Swans.

This makes for a very interesting situation. Both the Geese and the Swans are very territorial and protective of their families.

The Swans nest is in the middle of the rock island and the goose nest is on the left side near the edge of the island.

 

 

Here are the Mute Swans

 

 

Here are the expectant fathers too be, hanging out so to speak. This is a daily occurrence. I try to go down every second night or so after work to check up on these guys and see what’s new. I am really hoping to see some little baby geese and swans in the near future and hope they all survive.

 

 

 

It appears they like to jog on water. The responsibilities of fatherhood can be very stressful at times.

Maybe this helps them burn off some of that stress. :)

Boys will be boys. Ha!

 

 

I couldn’t believe my eyes, what I was seeing. Wow! I was in '”Awe”. I have never seen anything like this before and I was in the right place at the right time with my 170-500 lens.  The swan is chasing the goose out of his territory, and is very protective of his family. So is the Canada Goose but he is no match for this big bird. I wouldn’t want to tangle with either of them. My advice is to stay away from their nests. I was not a threat to them, nor they to me, as I stood on shore witnessing this wonderful Nature Scene.

 

 

I cropped this photo to make it a little bigger.

 

 

No one was hurt in this encounter. This is not the first nor the last encounter these two will have. I took these photos yesterday , and I took more today which I will add in my next update. This picture is near the end of the chase.

 

 

 

The Stare Down

 

I took this photo at the end of the chase and these two beautiful birds are about 30ft away from where I was standing on shore. They are use to people because some people feed them. I don’t. They will not bother you if you respect them and their territory. Nature is to be respected, at least it should be.

I called this last photo, “ The Stare Down”, because that is exactly what they are doing.  After the chase they both decided to have a rest and just ignored each other. It sort of reminded me of a Looney Tunes Cartoon. I did laugh many times as I watched these two.

It usually takes Canada Geese about 28 days before they hatch their eggs and they can have between 3 –8 baby chicks.

It usually takes the swans about 35 days and they too can have from 4-8 young ones. I do hope they will all get along when they do have their young one. I will do my best to keep you updated .

I hope you have enjoyed these photos as much as I have enjoyed taking them.

God Bless each and every one of you and have a wonderful weekend . May is a wonderful time of the year so enjoy.

Hugs and Smiles

Dianne ( dsphotocats) :)