The above photo was published as the front cover of my villages parish magazine. It is delivered to every house in my village with a potential readership of 3000 people. WIN!

Mute swans swimming in Gulf of Finland

pronounced knob atop the bill. Mute derives from it being less vocal than other swan species. 

Mute Swans nest on large mounds that they build with waterside vegetation in shallow water on islands in the middle or at the very edge of a lake. They are monogamous and often reuse the same nest each year, restoring or rebuilding it as needed. Male and female swans share the care of the nest, and once the cygnets are fledged it is not uncommon to see whole families looking for food.They feed on a wide range of vegetation, both submerged aquatic plants which they reach with their long necks, and by grazing on land. The food commonly includes agricultural crop plants such as oilseed rape and wheat, and feeding flocks in the winter may cause significant crop damage, often as much through trampling with their large webbed feet, as through direct consumption. (Wikipedia)

A shoveler and a mute swan.

A mixed flock of linnet and goldfinch.

Some lapwings with something else. Probably knots. Who cares? Stop hassling me.

I thought this might be a marsh harrier but it’s a buzzard. Out of spite.

Avocets and oystercatchers.

I dunno. Probably a female stonechat or something.

An I-dunno flying away. Blurrily.

Incidentally, shovelers would, given half a chance, push for a communist regime, because they are idealists who refuse to learn by humanity’s mistakes. Tsk. Silly ducks.

Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park was the location again as I still want to show Jem the Tawny Owls, as well seeing the Little Owls too. The snowy weather isn’t great for owls,so we knew it was a long shot, but it was nice to get out to a big inner-city park in the snow for once.

Kensington Gardens brought us plenty of birds on the Round Pond, mostly Black-headed Gulls, a few Mute Swans, some Canada Geese, and a few dozen Starlings too. I’m not much good with Gull identification, but there appeared to be a few non-Black-headed Gulls around too, which I assume were Herring Gulls of varying ages. EDIT: Nope, I’ve just found out that they were Common Gulls.

Starling

Common and Black-headed Gulls

The area where the Tawny Owls hang out was devoid of any action at all – even the Parakeets were quieter than usual – so we wandered across to where the Little Owls are supposed to frequent. There were a couple of fat Woodpigeons, several Robins (two of which were happily eating mealworms out of some ladies’ hands), a few Blackbirds, a Jay, the obligatory Blue and Great Tits, plus a hungry Brown Rat and a few Grey Squirrels. No sign of any owls though.

Robin

After that we decided to have a quick look for the Bearded Tits again in Hyde Park. We encountered dozens of Tufted Ducks, a few Mallards, several Moorhen, and a nice pair of Shovelers on the way over. There were no other birders around so we assumed the Bearded Tits had hidden themselves away, but we were wrong. They were happily munching away in the long grasses, just as they had been last weekend. The light was fading fast though, making photography virtually impossible, so we took that as our cue to pack away and stomp through the snow back to High Street Kensington Station. I had a nice piece of barbecue-marinated pulled pork to put in the oven…

Klikkaa isompaan kokoon — Click to enlarge.

Meri on vieläkin auki, vaikka vuodenvaihteessa jo näyttikin menevän pian jäähän.

The sea is still open even though a month ago it looked like it was going to freeze up soon.

Lyhyt talvipäivä sinertyy illaksi:

Klikkaa isompaan kokoon — Click to enlarge.

Värit ovat melkein eksoottisen herkullisia, mutta keli kylmä.

Evening calm, with almost exotic colours – it was very cold though!

Lauttaliikennettä saarten takana.   —   Ferries to Sweden/Estonia out among the islands.

Kun sulaa rantavettä vielä riittää, niin kuusihenkinen kyhmyjoutsenperhe on päättänyt katsoa ja viivytellä ja yrittää talvehtimista. Lykkyä tykö!:

A whole family of mute swans -mom dad and four kids- have decided to hang on as long as the sea stays open. Good luck!

Exposing correctly for white is a tricky process (especially when white is the main colour) the reasoning behind this is that your cameras optimal exposure is for 18% grey, so if you point at a white object and follow the cameras settings you will often end with a grey white rather than a white white (the camera assumes this should be the perfect exposure so makes it 18% grey) so the ideal way to correct this is to over expose slightly, but the skill is in learning who much to do so without blowing your highlights.

Swimming swan

Eyes right!

17 of 365 – Swan Lake

Now I’m not going to claim this is perfect but it is the best of the bunch (which is why it is pic 17) the bulk of the body is white rather than grey while maintaining detail. It can be a very fine line between blowing your highlights and getting detail (I think I may have lost a bit of detail in the back).

Tomorrow is another day as they say, so we will see what pictures come out of that.

Goldfinch

He looks as if he has spotted something interesting

Greenfinch

Siskins searching high in an alder tree for seeds in the cones

Great Tit

Chaffinch watching me very closely

Mute Swan

Coot

Thank for stopping by and I hope that you enjoyed it.

]]> http://thethinkingofthoughtsblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/mute-swan/ Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:32:42 +0000 thethinkingofthoughts2013 http://thethinkingofthoughtsblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/mute-swan/

Powerful, Majestic, Beautiful, Graceful and Unpredictable

Fred the Egret

Meet Fred. He lives in the Florida Keys. He was the scrawniest of all the Egrets hanging around my friend’s back terrace and absolutely captured my heart. I swear we used to have conversations; although I cannot claim to speak Egretese. Still, I would say something, and Fred would look into my eyes, cock his head and squawk back at me.

Pelicans – the pigeons of the Keys

This is the Pelican Gang. Every time one of the fisherman on the canal came back with fish, these three characters would turn up. Eminently patient, they would wait while the fisherman gutted the fish, preparing them to be cooked or frozen. Finally, finally, finally, he would finish and the Pelican Gang would have its reward.

Which is bigger, the bird or the food?

This photo was taken through the kitchen window of the house I was staying in, in England. The Chaffinch is a shy creature, at least, camera shy, so I was tickled when this little guy sidled up to the suet ball I’d left on the wall.

A Hummingbird in Muskoka

This Hummingbird came in to feed at my mother’s house in Muskoka. The file is pretty small, so you’ll have to click on the photo to get a good look, but I was pretty pleased with this shot.

I captured these Ravens soaring over the Grand Canyon.

We were about a quarter of the way into the Grand Canyon when I looked up and saw these Ravens flying about the rim. Given the reputation of the Raven in First Nations lore (the trickster) I was hoping it wasn`t a sign of impending peril or some other thing the gods might find funny.

A wondrous sight while lying on the beach in Mexico.

Frigate Birds graced us with their presence several times as we lazed about on the beach in Mexico. Mostly, I missed getting a half decent shot, but this time, I was lucky.

I saw this fellow at Toronto Harbour.

I think this bird, shot at Harbourfront in Toronto, was something of an anomaly. It`s some kind of Tern, I`m pretty sure, and I was told but cannot, for the life of me, remember which one. All I do know is that it was a rare sighting for Toronto.

(NB. Later that same day: I now know that this is a Heron – possibly a Black-Crowned Night-Heron. A rare sighting for Toronto, which is not in its usual range.)

This Pheasant was in a lane I was driving down in Derbyshire.

Dumb as doorposts, Pheasants are not generally known for using their wings when in danger. Usually, they run down the lane, waiting for a gap in the grass to hop onto. Honestly. This guy, however, only ran down the verge for about ten feet before he actually remembered he had wings and flew five feet to the top of the wall.

Jay sitting pretty.

Accustomed as I am to Blue Jays, the English Jay quite took me by surprise. They are shy and it`s often difficult to get them to sit still for a picture. This one, I managed to get by not going outside, but shooting through the window!

Mallards over a pond in the Midlands.

I love this shot, as it makes me wonder what`s outside the frame.

Gull at repose by the English Channel.

This Gull was so peacefully at repose in its nest of pebbles in the sun, it was quite lovely.

Kite over Brecon, Wales

I think it`s a Kite. We were in a parking lot in Brecon, Wales when I saw it gliding silently above us. The miracle was that I managed to capture it with my camera.

Mallard and Mallardling?

From the other side, this Mallard looked like it was sleeping on a stone, it lay so oddly. When I got around her, I realized it wasn`t a stone, but a Duckling. I was amazed that she stayed where she was, given how close I was. So I backed off and used full zoom to get the picture. There`s a series of them that I`ll post another day, but this mother and child were special.

The Mallardling goes a-wandering.

Yes, the Duckling went wandering without his Mama. Mama was nowhere in sight at this moment (she was in the grass not far away), but the little guy seems totally unconcerned. He`s off to see the world.

At the ferry docks in Normandy.

I just happened to have a clear spot (meaning no cars driving by) to get this shot in Normandy, near Oustreham. How unconcerned they are.

Found this Mute Swan in a pond in Leicestershire.

I think I should be glad there`s a fence between us. It`s not often you get to lock eyes with a Swan, Mute or otherwise!

English Robin in a Holly tree.

Much smaller than the Canadian Robin, the English Robin is red from middle of breast to the back of the head. They are sweet, cheerful songsters, that I never tired of hearing.

Robin singing happily in a walled garden.

This photo isn`t very clear, it was a dark day, but I have to include this photo of another English Robin. He`s singing mightily in a bush in a walled garden I walked by one day. This is the little guy that led Mary to the Secret Garden in one of my mother`s favorite books. If you look closely, you can see the flash of red in all the grey. I just wish I could share his song, too. I wonder what `Happy Birthday` sounds like in Robinese.

Happy Birthday, Mum! I love you.

Chaffinch

Tree Sparrow

Robin

Although they are the same species there are two different types of Robin. One is sleek and . . .

. . . the other is round and cuddly

On the large lake the Tufted Ducks are back from their summer away

A Black Headed Gull comes in for a landing

Another Black Headed Gull appears to be on a collision course with a Mute Swan

Hopefully the New Year will be a lot dryer and warmer, giving the wildlife a chance to replenish the losses suffered this year.

]]> http://wildlifedetective.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/new-year-walk-part-2-swans-and-yellowhammers/ Tue, 01 Jan 2013 13:29:54 +0000 wildlifedetective http://wildlifedetective.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/new-year-walk-part-2-swans-and-yellowhammers/

Five of the eight mute swans

Part of the skein of pink-footed geese

Eventually tearing myself away from this interesting flock of birds I continued along the track. On my right now I could see that young trees had been planted; some conifers and some young hardwood trees with bare tips just peeping out from the top of their plastic protective tubes. They were short tubes and would give little protection from roe deer, and I wondered about that. At the end of the track I cut right handed into a semi- mature sitka spruce wood. I followed a narrow track through the wood and when I came out to open fields on the far side there was another ditch, even more suitable than the first as water vole habitat. Pity they can’t be re-introduced to these ditches and waterways. I’d heard the wing beats of swans earlier but couldn’t see them. Suddenly a family of eight mute swans came low over my head, the sheer scale of them quite daunting at that close range. The sound of their wings cutting through the air is a delight, only bettered by the sound of whooper swan wings, which is always accompanied by their trumpeting sound as they communicate with each other almost continuously. As I followed the flight of the swans, there were two buzzards, one of them with a breast as white as the swans, hanging in the wind over a small wood. Amazing how they can hang in the wind almost as well as a kestrel.

I now headed back towards the road through another stubble field. I was surprised at the number of meadow pipits that rose ahead of me, the white feathers at either side of their tails being the main identifying feature. There was a pylon in the centre of the field and there was a row of birds on one of the wires. Initially I thought they were more meadow pipits but as I got closer I could see that some of them had bright yellow heads. A view through the binoculars confirmed that at least some of them were yellowhammers, the most I had seen together for some years. There had been a yellowhammer’s nest in a roadside hedge during the summer (not that I saw it but the cock bird was standing guard on the telephone wires above the nest every time I passed). The birds were less than quarter of a mile from the nest site and it would be good to think that these were some of the family from that nest.  Even with my two-hour walk finishing with a skein of pink-footed geese flying over my head, the yellowhammers remained the highlight.

Its been raining here for what seems like days, in fact the outstanding memory of this year has been rain and lots of it! But that’s another story. Until today it seems to have been raining almost consistently since Wednesday. The ground that was already totally saturated, has now begun sprouting new springs, appearing along the hillside in places where they haven’t been before. Most of these springs are not seeps, but are pouring like springs with business elsewhere. We even gained our own water feature, with a raging torrent pouring down the track outside the house, to add its contents to the duck pond opposite.

Duck pond is probably now the wrong term to describe our temporary water body. In fact its as large as I have ever seen it and is now looking more like having the proportions of a lake rather than a pond, as it stretches for at least a hundred metres in length. As for the ducks, seen those on it in the past, I’ve also seen children on it when its frozen, but today is the first time I’ve seen it with a pair of swans on it. They were obviously quite happy there, for when I returned some time later they were happily dozing.

Swan Lake – 23 December 2012 (Copyright Carol Jones)

Heading north along the valley, the fields along the bottom have also flooded, something which occurs most winters but not as much as this. Usually the water forms just a series of temporary small water bodies down the valley, that rise and fall rapidly as the surroundings drain. Following our most recent rain event, they have coalesced into two large lakes, one of which was deep enough to cover the fence that separates two of the fields, while the other is only a few inches from the top of a wall. Both of these were fed by raging torrents that had given up with the field drains and were pouring down the surrounding hillsides, flooding across the lane and into the bottom fields.

Lakes – 22 December 2012 (Copyright Carol Jones)

Today we bring you your unfriendly neighborhood Mute Swan. These birds are native to Europe, but were brought to North America for their aesthetic appeal. While they are extremely pretty, they can also be extremely harmful. Not only are they aggressive towards humans, but they can harm or even kill other native birds like Least Terns. They also uproot important vegetation called Sub Aquatic Vegetation. You can do your part to help prevent their spread by not feeding them and encouraging others to stop feeding these birds.

For information please check out:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mute_Swan/id

and

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/dnrnews/infocus/muteswanfacts.html

Murder On the Estuary; Documenting the killing of a Mute Swan by a herd of Mute Swan.

The Mute Swan is so named because it is less vocal than other swans. It is wholly white in plumage with an orange bill bordered with black. It is recognisable by its pronounced knob atop the bill.

So graceful, so peaceful, so pure. x

Canon EOS 550D | Canon 55-250mm EF-S
f/5.6 | 1/500sec. | ISO-200

The four goosanders sneaked past me

Monday 14 November 2011.  Weather: Mild, light wind and light drizzle. A dreich November day!

Part 1

The first of my stories from a year ago.

With the pheasant shooting on the estate now started it is more difficult to get a day when no shooting and dry weather combine to make seeing birds possible.  There was more likelihood of seeing birds on the largest of the estate lochs, since wet weather makes little difference to water birds and fishing was finished for the season. I knew the boat with the electric outboard motor would not be available as the charging point had been damaged, so oars would be the order of the day. The boat is very light and rowing is no problem in any case. I was just a bit concerned, though, that the movement of the oars might limit how close I could get to any birds.

The loch was flat calm at the east end, where I started out from. The wind, not surprisingly since it was wet, was from the east and was causing some rippling of the water further up the loch but nothing too turbulent. A raft of 40 or so tufted ducks was busy just out from shore. Only about two-thirds were ever on the surface at one time and whatever they were getting off the bottom of the loch during their dives it was keeping them occupied. Halfway up the loch I could see a black shape, low in the water, that was a cormorant, and beyond it a white bird that proved when I put the binoculars on it to be a male goosander.

I set off rowing, noting the sign near where the boat had been tied up that read, ‘The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please. We have it in trust. We must account for it to those who come after ’.  The sign encouraged any anglers to appreciate the wildlife on the loch and to dispose of litter safely, in particular nylon line.  Compared with those who participate in most other sports, most anglers are by nature very quiet; out to enjoy the tranquillity of the countryside whether or not they take home a trout. The risk of them disturbing wildlife is remote.

I realised in the first hundred yards of rowing that, in the normal rowing position, anything I wanted to see was behind me. I persevered for a wee while, turning the boat slightly every so often to scan the water ahead of me. I soon got fed up of that and sat on the next seat back in the boat (aft would be the nautical term) so that I could push the oars rather than pull them.  It was not a great hardship, but the downside was that I’d already dried and warmed up one seat, and here I was on a wet and cold one again! I rowed round the loch in a clockwise direction, remaining about 200 yards out from the shore. A group of mallard were resting on the shore, many standing on one leg and with head tucked under wing. After scanning them with the binos, I was happy there was nothing unusual about them or any more unusual species hiding amongst them. I continued up the south side of the loch, seeing a small flock of goldeneye some distance ahead.  They appeared rather concerned about a boat with two oars flapping at either side (even though my rowing was smooth and quiet) and, when still about 200 yards ahead, took off over my head to land at the end of the loch from which I’d just come. Oars were not a good idea.

Ahead of the goldeneye I’d spotted four goosanders, lovely looking birds with their salmon pink serrated bill, white throat and russet brown head contrasting with their grey back. They kept paddling just ahead of me into the small bay at the west end of the loch, with nowhere to go from there. I was now 150 yards from them and suspected if I closed the distance any further they’d join the goldeneye at the other end of the loch. Two were female and two were sub-adult males, with a white bar along the side of each wing that differentiated between the two sexes.  All were keeping a close eye on the ‘boat with wings.’  They began to swim back down the side of the loch again and I managed one or two photographs as they filed past in line astern.  They swam past a lone coot, foraging happily just out from the reeds and much less alert to danger than the goosanders. I had heard a coot several times at this end of the loch but had never seen one until now, as they seemed more at home in the reeds.

Leaving the goosanders in peace, I turned the boat and headed out of the bay, past a pair of mute swans. The swans completely ignored the boat, despite the oars, and had their heads underwater more often than above. Their vulnerability in this position, with bums in the air, does not seem to concern them. They have few avian predators, probably just the white-tailed eagle. These are still scarce in the east of Scotland but those that are here regularly take geese, particularly in Montrose Basin, so I suspect they would manage a mute swan as well. I’ve no doubt that white-tailed eagles are occasional visitors to the estate and I hope to see one here in due course. (I did in fact, and that’s a story for later)

Looking South Along Touting Birks Hill, On A Much Brighter Day – 30 January 2010 (Copyright Carol Jones)

Within the garden the birds were busy. There was a Robin taking pride of place on the very top of the bird table trying to lord it over all, while below Blue Tits and Coal Tits squabbled over the peanuts and fat balls. Out on the grass was a Blackbird, picking amongst the leaves, looking like he had had an argument in a paint shop, as he was speckled with white, with one large blob of white on the back of his neck and at this time of year it made him look rather tatty. Closer to the house, a small Wren picked energetically at insects amongst the pots of Pansies, scattering compost and leaves all over the place.

Then to complete the picture, like a Hercules making a regal fly by, there flew up the valley, the slow but magnificent form of a Mute Swan. Each beat of its wings, pushing large quantities of air out of the way, as it slowly but consistently moved onwards. Wow! They are totally amazing, large and almost lumbering but somehow also magnificent and in the air also with a certain amount of grace.

Wood Duck

Wood Duck

Wood Duck

Wood Duck

Mute Swan

Limpkin

Limpkin

Mallard

Lesser Scaup

Our search for “natural” experiences does not always involve long journeys and maps with complex directions.  We live in Lakeland, Florida and, true to its name, there are many local lakes nearby.  One of these, Lake Morton, is virtually in the middle of the downtown area within sight of the public library.

(See our previous post:  The Swans of Lakeland.)

On a recent morning, I grabbed a large cup of coffee and we drove to the lake about sunrise to see if any new birds were hanging around.  Well, the morning light was soft, there were a lot of birds busy looking for breakfast, I had the camera with me…….a familiar story unfolded.  A couple of hours later, the coffee was stone cold but I had an enjoyable morning observing the urban avian residents begin their day.

Wood Ducks were busy feeding, mating and posing.  The abundance of Apple Snails is good news for Limpkins.  I counted 16 individuals just along the southwest shoreline on this morning.  A Mute Swan lifted his head from among the lily pads long enough for a portrait.  The female Mallard flew by as though she was late for an appointment and a lone Lesser Scaup floated on the lake surface illuminated by the reflected morning light from nearby office building windows.

A wonderful way to start a day, even without any coffee!

Wood Duck

Enjoy your search for a natural place and come back for a visit.

See more birds from around the world at Paying ReadyAttention for