Project 365 – a photo a day, every day of the year.
I love going up to the local pond near us and watching the birds and water fowl. It’s spring so there are baby ducks, goslings and cuteness abounds in the form of fluffy little creatures all learning to swim and keep up with their parents.
We happen to always have a family of swans who nest every year here and today I was lucky enough to watch a parenting moment, or at least a pre parenting one. They sit on their nest and each takes turns. I happened to see the female honk to the male, who came over to her, from where he was paddling along in the water. They looked to be having a chat, then she did a bit more gentle honking, he came up to talk to her, he groomed her, with his beak, then she got up, and went off into the water and he took over warming the nest and hatching the two eggs that I caught a glimpse of. She went off for a paddle and to eat, and I assume the equivalent of a swan toilet break.
It made me smile. It’s not just humans that take parenting duties seriously. I know swans are generally pretty dedicated. We are now counting the days to see if the babies hatch and how many.