dragoness_e | Sunday Afternoon at the Park

Sunday afternoon, we went for a walk at the park to check on the baby cygnets, among other things. It's amazing how fast they are growing. While at the park, not only did I take photos of yet more birds, I experimented with my camera's video recording capabilities, trying to capture some of the interesting bird behavior I saw.

Some swans were taking it easy...

Sleeping Swan

Great Egret Hunting
There was a Great White Egret stalking little bitty fishes in the swamp area...

Also in the swamp area, a flock of White Ibis were busily probing the mud. (Not to mention snapping up any bread flung their way).

White Ibis Feeding

Watch on YouTube

Nutria

These guys are ubiquitous.

Not a one-legged seagull

This high-resolution picture is mostly for me to identify the seagull when I get around to it. He has many, many friends hanging around. At one point, a whole flock of them simultaneously flew over to where we were and landed on the railings ahead of us, on both sides of the boardwalk. Re-make of "The Birds", anyone?

Seagull gauntlet

~~Cormorant~~ Anhinga drying his wings

Cormorants have to dry their wings after swimming, because, unlike those of ducks, they are not waterproof. Until their wings dry, they can't fly. Perhaps he should have obeyed the sign. However, this isn't a cormorant. It's an anhinga. We have both, and like cormorants, anhingas have to dry their wings.

Around the far side of the swamp area, there was a Roseate Spoonbill busily working his way back and forth, feeding. They have a funny little side-to-side sweep that you can see in this video.

Roseate Spoonbill Feeding

We finally located the swans with cygnets. Alas, they're down to only three now! One has gone missing.

Only three cygnets!

Swan pair with one of the cygnets

Two more cygnets

Cygnets resting

Notice how the baby swans rest one leg by listing to one side and hooking the one foot up above water.

Swan feeding

This is one way they feed when people aren't giving them handouts. They also graze along the shoreline.

We forgot to bring bread this time. Oops! Fortunately, another family at the park brought bread and crackers and were busy making sure the poor, deprived swans didn't starve to death. (If those birds can fly from the sheer amount of calories they get in bread every day, I'll be amazed).

Feeding the swans

The mother started hand-feeding the swans, which surprised me; I didn't know they were that bold.

Hand-feeding

At first, the small child was shy of the big swans, and would only fling crackers out into the canal for them to pick up.

Cygnet with tasty crackers!

If you throw the swans crackers, they will wait until they soak in the water a few seconds, or, if hand-fed, dip them in the water before eating. I have observed the same behavior (as noted in a previous post) in white ibises. You can see the adult swan doing that in the next video.

Finally, the little girl got up her nerve to try hand-feeding the swans:

Child hand-feeding Black Swans

Watch on YouTube

Note: high-quality versions of these videos can be viewed at my YouTube account (or by toggling the HQ button on the above videos)