Swans...

It's funny - back during my first year of blipping, I managed to sneak some shots of a Mute Swan (not all that good, as I look back) and I was over the moon.  Now, I tend to view them as ho-hum birds, which is a  shame.  Today, when my friend Cathy and I were out walking along the Marsh, there were the usual 20+ swans out in the pond and I decided to snap off a bunch of shots.  I like this one because you can see the water dripping from the front swan's bill and also because I actually got the exposure right!  Not that easy to photograph white birds in bright sunlight...

Mute Swans are considered an invasive species in the United States, having been introduced from Eurasia.  They've established large breeding populations in parts of the US where their aggressive behavior threatens some native species.  For that reason, many birders view them somewhat dimly, along with Starlings and House Sparrows (also non-native species in N. America).  As for me... I find them quite beautiful and never tire of seeing them.  

I believe that most of the swans in this location are immature as adult swans form tight pair bonds and aggressively defend breeding territory.  Swans don't reach sexual maturity until their third year, so these are likely second year birds.  They are just hanging out, doing what teenage swans do ... eating and occasionally scuffling.  

I was tempted to blip a Black-billed cuckoo today because it is only the second one I've ever seen (the first being earlier this week), but I wasn't thrilled with the photos so I went with this instead.  If you'd like to have a look at the cuckoo, however, please jump over to Flickr, where I've posted 4 other shots, the third being the cuckoo.  

I'm happy to report that I've not seen Bruinhilda the bear again, fingers crossed.  However, I'm not leaving feeders out unsupervised.  And, in the Tale of Two Kitties...the skirmishes seem to be less intense now, although they are far from being friends.  I was giving Charlie some cuddles this afternoon and Phoebe jumped up - so there I am with one cat on each side of my lap, glaring and ready to pounce.  I was able to pet both of them until they settled down a bit - of course, then I was afraid to move!  Cats...

Dinner tonight (another new recipe) is a spinach/onion quiche with a quinoa crust - sounds yummy!  Last night's quinoa panzanella salad was a hit - light and tasty.

TTFN