Dragoness Eclectic (
dragoness_e) wrote2009-12-25 01:57 pm
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Still more birds at the park, December 18
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Wherein we go looking for cygnets and find them growing up.
That day, it took us some time to find the swan pair with the cygnets. On the way, I saw a
little heron that I later identified as a Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor).


As you can see compared to the duck and the ibis, it is a fairly small heron.


We almost missed the cygnets, because they've started to grow their adult feathers and have
started to turn darker. As you can see, they aren't fluffy pale gray anymore.
Older cygnets with adult black swans

Cygnets, closer

Note the adult feathers starting to show. Also noticed that their bills, which were
originally quite pale gray, are just starting to darken and turn pinkish.
Cygnets snatching up bread crumbs

Note the opportunist ibis to the upper left. He's trying to snatch bits of breads
that we tossed to the swans.
Cygnets, bread crumbs, more ibises

Video: Feeding the "Ugly Ducklings"
You can hear the cygnets peeping quite enthusiastically. Also note at the start of the
video, an ibis tries to snatch some bread and is driven off by one of the cygnets.

"Feeding the 'Ugly Ducklings'" by Dragoness Eclectic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Wherein we go looking for cygnets and find them growing up.
That day, it took us some time to find the swan pair with the cygnets. On the way, I saw a
little heron that I later identified as a Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor).


As you can see compared to the duck and the ibis, it is a fairly small heron.


We almost missed the cygnets, because they've started to grow their adult feathers and have
started to turn darker. As you can see, they aren't fluffy pale gray anymore.
Older cygnets with adult black swans

Cygnets, closer

Note the adult feathers starting to show. Also noticed that their bills, which were
originally quite pale gray, are just starting to darken and turn pinkish.
Cygnets snatching up bread crumbs

Note the opportunist ibis to the upper left. He's trying to snatch bits of breads
that we tossed to the swans.
Cygnets, bread crumbs, more ibises

Video: Feeding the "Ugly Ducklings"
You can hear the cygnets peeping quite enthusiastically. Also note at the start of the
video, an ibis tries to snatch some bread and is driven off by one of the cygnets.

"Feeding the 'Ugly Ducklings'" by Dragoness Eclectic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.