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Old 03-26-2015, 08:33 AM
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mrsD mrsD is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Great Lakes
Posts: 33,508
15 yr Member
mrsD mrsD is offline
Wisest Elder Ever
mrsD's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Great Lakes
Posts: 33,508
15 yr Member
Lightbulb

I have a funny story to share....

We have a large pond/but called a "lake" within our city limits.
For over 10 yrs we had a mated pair of white swans, and one black. The whites nested on a little bitty island in the middle of this pond. We'd have lots of ducks and Canadian geese too.

One day my 8yr-10yrs old son and I were in the park several yards from the shore, sitting on a blanket and I was drawing the
birds in my sketchbook.

The black swan who was always posturing and pecking at other birds got into a snit with a Canadian goose who was between us and the parking area. There was alot of honking going on, and we watched and as it escalated, it became a row, the two birds, the black swan and the goose, started a major battle. They rolled (locked in a flapping pecking mass) down the incline where we were sitting and splashed into the lake. We had to run for our lives... and feathers were everywhere. It wasn't long after this, that the farm where the swans lived in the winter, kept them year round. The city put up a ordinance forbidding feeding the ducks (which many families with little children liked to do with bread)...and all the birds disappeared. This park used to be very popular too with drug dealers, and when the people stopped coming to it, the drug dealers left too. There were always lots of undercover police patrolling there.

So my dominant memory of black swans is that they are very temperamental. The white ones never caused any problems that we saw. So don't get too close to them, or you might have a similar tale to tell.
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"Thanks for this!" says:
Lara (03-26-2015)