I walked to the lake this morning to see what the water level was at after Hurricane Irene passed through. As I expected, it was high! But what I didn't expect, was to see my swan friends standing so close to the path while still in the water. Here are a couple photos, one is taken with the "toy camera" filter from my iPhone.

Life is full of the blues. Black White & Blues that is. Been working on Joe Ciardiello collection of blues musicians portraits for the past 2 years and we're just about finished. We might even make our April 1st deadline when we'll give a talk and presentation of the book.

The swans have entered another phase of life: moulting. Unlike most other birds, ducks, geese and swans lose all their flight feathers at once, rendering them flightless for a period. And I am capitalizing on this by collecting some of their majestic, sword-like feathers that they leave behind.
Feathers grow from follicles in the skin (like hair) and the growth of a new feather from the bottom of the follicle pushes the old one out. A comparison of feather wear shows that dark colored feathers wear out more slowly than white ones.

The swans have relocated from their nesting ground, spending more time across the lake by the ice skating rink. In some ways it's more private. The babies use the boat ramp for easy water access.

There's another mute swan family in the park! Three weeks before "my" cygnets hatched, this other couple, who live by the boathouse, had three cygnets of their own. I set off to find them. It took a couple attempts, but sure enough, here they were feasting on the abundant aquatic plants known as duck weed — no this isn't slime, or algae.
More Mute Swan Facts
Swans are the largest known flying bird
►The adult male is called a cob. He is the only known bird to have a penis.
►He has been known to use a blow from the “knucklebone” of his wing to defend his family.
►Swans can fly as fast as 50 to 60 miles per hour
►Some have a wing span of 10 feet
►A baby swan or cygnet has a grey feathered coat until it reaches about 20 pounds. Then it too will become snowy white like its parents.
►A baby swan pecks at the inside of the egg for 24 hours prior to making its entrance
►The female swan is referred to as a pen

Everyone wanted to get a look at the newcomers: the herons, turtles, egrets, geese, squirrels, fishermen.

I'll admit I've been dependent on the swans. And all the other water fowl cruising through the park. Since getting laid off from my regular gig, I've been in the park next to the nest everyday. No exceptions. Rain or shine. They've given me a schedule. A purpose. A routine.

And finally the moment I'd been waiting for was here. Faith in nature. With so much up in the air lately, with jobs, government, world events, here was something that I could count on. These eggs would hatch. If I showed up everyday, eventually there would be new life. And now so much whirled through my head, when a black crested night heron flew by from "goose island" over to the next island. Then another. And another?! Three night herons. Never before had I seen more than one.

Some Mute Swan Facts

► Swans mates for life.
► The knob at the base of the male's upper bill is larger than the female's knob.
► A mute swan’s neck has 23 vertebrae, more than any other bird.
► Swans begin to breed between 3 and 4 years of age.
► They lay from 5 to 10 eggs that take from 35 to 42 days to hatch. The female does most of the egg incubation, but every now and then the male will replace her for a while.
► The babies are called cygnets and are usually pale gray with gray legs that turn black as they grow.

I was later than usual going into the park the day the eggs hatched. I walked along the inside path to the nesting area and along the way I ran across the geese and their young who were getting very big. As I rounded the final stretch, I could see the male swan off to the right. As I moved to the edge of the lake and let my eyes travel to the female on the nest, I could see four small furry golf-blall-sized heads with dark grey beaks sitting in front of mom. I was so excited. Luckily I already had my camera out since I'd seen the goslings. I was able to get a few shots off before a huge white wing swept them beneath it.