3 swans and a heron

So lovely shot!!!

What a lovely shot, mum, dad and baby, but where are all the others?? and what type of bird is that over amongst the reeds? Dianne

Thanks very much Irina - Cheers!

Hi Dianne - the bird in the back is a Great Blue Heron, stalking fish. This is his usual spot, so I've got lots of shots of him, but after Guy's amazing heron photos from a few months ago, lol, I feel like 'Why Bother posting any more of my own?' And so he's just an incidental extra in the swan shots, lol. There are several swan families is these shots - this is Easy Rider, getting to be a very big boy. He was in the first family to hatch, so is so much bigger than any of the other families. (Sadly, his sibling hasn't been around since they were pretty small.) Each of the families stakes out its own particular pond - and surprisingly, the one with the 9 cygnets seems to have moved ponds completely to one about a mile away!

Cool shot with the heron in the background, how can he see the fish through all the algae?

Thanks Guy - and hmmm, you've stumped me there. I'm not sure how he sees the fish - maybe he can sense the water movement? But he must be able to, since he hangs out in the green area the most. Makes for some interesting shadow patterns, but I haven't been able to get any goo shots of it.

The baby sure has grown. Too bad about the sibling. I've never seen baby herons. You gotta wonder what they do with their young.

HI Cal - Thanks! I read on a webpage about swans that snapping turtles are the #1 predator, and the ponds here back that up. But seems that there's usually at least one per family that makes it - hopefully Easy Rider here will back that up.

On herons, I actually know the sort of surprising answer and have been valiantly trying to get a chance to get some pics. But most locations I know about are only viewable from a distance or from a highway with no stopping allowed. But I hope to provide a shot this week-end or next...