Wednesday Wildlife

Yesterday I was out on Relief Society business during the late morning.  On the way home I drove by Swan Lake Iris Gardens.  Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw some baby, or maybe teenage, swans with a mom.  It was a gorgeous day out so when I arrived home I asked Dear One if he would like to walk in Swan Lake instead of his usual walk around the complex today.  He thought he would.  So we did!

We walked for a ways and then, there they were!  Sleeping, but still...!

I did want to get closer to get a better photo but: 1. did not want to disturb them, 2. did not want to wake them up, and 3. did not want to see a protective mother come for us! (We have Canada Geese by our neighbors on the pond.  One is always on guard...ready for a fight.  I don't know if swans have the same protective personality but I did not really want to find out...)

We walked on and there came a big white swan walking up from the lake on a path that would take him or her right in front of us.  I remember a goose we had on the farm when I was growing up who was a very mean goose!  When he saw me, he came up and gave me a sharp bite.  Darn him.  He scared me, besides hurting.  Now here was a large bird heading toward us and he was not stopping.  My tummy clenched a little, but Dear One had his cane so he could have knocked that bird away if he needed to do it to protect me.  Instead, this is what happened:

The park ranger was sitting on a bench talking on his cell phone.  The swan came right up to him.  You can see they are good friends!  It turned out to be a lady swan because I heard him say, "Here comes Sue.  I had better go."  Pretty funny.  That swan and the ranger appear to be very good friends.

On the last stretch of our walk we  were just about back to the gate to go to the car when we saw this handsome fellow.  At least, I think it was a fellow, based on, well, nothing but intuition which does not count for much. 

He was grooming himself.  I think he was pretty successful because he was shiny and beautiful.  He was also strong because he was doing it one-legged!  The closer-to-us leg, when I snapped the picture, was just moving backwards toward his tail.  A moment later the leg was parallel to the ground and the beak was also parallel to the ground and the bird was shining up his tail feathers.  It was amazing to see him balancing on one leg for all this.

It was a great walk.  The old bod is not what it used to be though,  and I felt every inch of the trip.  It was only three-quarters of a mile, but....I did feel it.  When we got home I was not sure I would be able to haul myself out of the car.  That is just stupid.  I think I had better make more of an effort to get back into the pool and work out the muscles so I can do regular stuff like walking a long way.  After all, if we need to walk to Missouri...?