Swans on the lake
 

Just took a few of these 10 mins ago.
Mum and Dad with their 4 new babies.

The attachment may be too big. I'll see how it goes and adjust if needed.
Just click on the thumbnails.

Wow.....black swans....how cool is that. Have only ever seen white swans.
D.

Great pics Lara :).

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. ;)

These ones are pretty tame in comparison although with mum and babies, the dad was making some snorting noises and keeping guard. They come right up over the revetment wall onto the grass usually. There are so many of them and they swim around all day with water fowl, ducks and the occasional pelican. The cormorants sit on the shore with wings spread sunbaking.

These ones swam over to the shore line for the photos though and they had been way out in the middle. The lakes here where the photos were taken are man made and meander and although this one is technically a fresh water lake, they had to build a weir due to flooding problems so sometimes it's a bit briny depending on what time of year it is. Lots of fish, no sharks!

They look magnificent when they're flying with white underneath and bright red here and there. They're massive and I have seen them get a little aggressive each other.

I've never seen any white swans here in the wild although I think there are some in certain areas that were introduced to Australia.