Saturday, June 4, 2022

Saturday's Critters #442

 I was thrilled on May 15th when I found this majestic Mute Swan sitting on a beautifully crafted nest at
Lake of the Lilies.


Mute Swans are a common, large waterbird here in the northeast.
They do not typically migrate according to my bird books, 
but I don't generally see them here during the winter.
A few fun facts: They mate for life.
Swans never forget, they will remember if you have been kind to them.
Swans can sleep on either water or land, and also while standing on one leg.
The female chooses the nesting area, while the male defends it.


Both the male and female incubate the eggs.

The partner sleeps close by and keeps a watchful eye on the other.

We have gone back several times to check on the swans and to see the babies,
the nest is empty, and we have not seen any cygnets in the water.


I am always on the lookout for Red-Winged Blackbirds, there is a huge population of them here.

I always hear them before I see them.


This is one bird that always looks like it is smiling.

This is the only female I was able to photograph.

Sharing today's images with Eileen at 
for Saturday Critters

15 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Hello, Debbie
The swans are lovely to see, I hope their babies are ok. Maybe hiding under their mama on the nest. The Red-winged Blackbird images are beautiful. Great birds and photos. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, enjoy your weekend! PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.

21 Wits said...

Good morning and what a lovely post, and thank you for all the swan information, which some of it I didn't know. Your captures are incredible, and swans are so beautiful. Enjoy your day and weekend too!

Tanza Erlambang said...

curious to see swan babies, unfortunately, you didn't see a single one ...sad.

Have a wonderful weekend

RedPat said...

Red-wing Blackbirds always mean spring is here for me.

DrumMajor said...

The swans look pretty. Hope some evil critter didn't take the eggs. I've seen one red-winged blackbird, each year, hanging out at the same cloverleaf highway intersection. I used to see them more often in Oklahoma. Linda in Kansas

Linda said...

I love the songs of the red winged blackbird.

BeachGypsy said...

hi there Debbie, I think those blackbirds are very very pretty! Dont think I've seen any of those here. I love seeing the pictures of the swans, I don't know much about swans...so like it when you tell us things. How neat they mate for life! They are so elegant and regal....i hope the babies are all ok and maybe they were just underneath the parent??? Hope you're having a real nice weekend!

Jim and Barb's Adventures said...

When I a kid we lived by a pond and I used to spend hours down there photographing the birds and waterfowl on their nests. Those are some awesome swan pictures!

DeniseinVA said...

I absolutely love these. Thanks so much Debbie :)

Mae Travels said...

The wonders of modern science — DNA studies have shown that some birds that were thought to mate for life actually cheat on their lovers, so the cygnets aren’t always the offspring of the male of the pair. I hope the cygnets you were watching for were ok (whoever was their father).

best…. mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Lowcarb team member said...

Lovely photographs. I do hope the cygnets are ok.

All the best Jan

Shiju Sugunan said...

Red winged blackbird is so pretty. Nice pics!

Conniecrafter said...

I think that maybe the kind of swan we saw on our vacation, it had a head with rusted colors to it. Greg tries to get the blackbirds on the reeds but they are always flying away, I keep telling him he needs to break out his long lens. It's been so cute watching the geese babies running around here :)

Soma @ InkTorrents.com said...

Swans are gorgeous. I do love how you photographed them, they look so peaceful. Red-winged Blackbirds are one of my favourites. The female's feather pattern is beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing the photos with us.

-Soma

Brian King said...

Glad some of the swans are back! I wonder if something happened to the eggs? Blackbirds can certainly be loud! They always show up here in spring.