Hoppy Mag.

I noticed this duck behaving somewhat oddly in St Stephen's Green this morning. The reason soon became clear. She has only one leg. That is not a trick of the camera angle. You can see the stump of her left leg that has been either bitten or broken off. She also seems to be missing a few tail feathers.
She was getting about on land all right but I can't help but think that she just swims around in circles.
Hoppy Mag was a famous Dublin street prostitute In the Hatch Lane red light area. She used to bring a firebrick to work with her to compensate for her short leg.

I had an eventful day today. First I won my battle with the Social Services bureaucracy, I will get a cheque on Monday. About time. There was a 25 minute wait for a bus so I headed around to the Green to see what was up. The Bird Man was encouraging a bunch of American tourists to feed the swans. There were two swans and four large cygnets and he introduced each of them by name. The funny thing was they they each responded to their name when he called them. Once they got over their initial nervousness the U.S. visitors were having a ball. I managed to have a pleasant chat with him. He is English but has lived here for years. He feeds the swans grass, by the way.
After I left him I met another Bird Man feeding the pigeons, They were perched on his shoulders and arms. He beckoned me over and gave me some instruction in the art of pigeon feeding. In no time at all I had birds on my forearm feeding from my hand. He is an American who has also become Irish. He gave me a handful of oatmeal and told me to try for myself. I moved a short distance away and set up my own feeding station. I was soon surrounded by birds, and although they didn't perch on me, they did eat from my hand. The Yank gave me a big thumbs up when I was leaving.
I was home by 12 noon and it felt like a very well spent morning. I got loads of shots but Hoppy Mag took the biscuit.