Saturday, February 2, 2019

BIRD NEWS:457


One last shot of our backyard wren before my late January excursion to WWT Arundel. The theme on the info boards for the time being is robins, illustrated below.



I strolled around the WWT site, clockwise, had coffee, then anticlockwise. The first familiar sighting was of the emperor geese - this time dozing. I then approached the Bewick swan babes.



After recent sightings numbering 5, on this trip it numbered 4 - the cygnets remained in situ, but this time the mommy swan had vanished. Previously, the daddy swan had left - becoming sick and dying, and after emailing the center I learned this, and that in spring a new mate would be introduced to the mommy swan - who has now also vanished. Whether mommy swan is being 'introduced' elsewhere, or has followed the original partner and passed away, remains to be seen - maybe on my next trip I will find out.


My next stop of importance - there was little of note in the first few hides - was the trumpeter swan enclosure. This is how they greeted me on this trip.



Too busy feeding to care!

3 comments:

  1. It's a little alarming that the mommy swan has vanished, too. I hope there's not some disease going around that the Bewick swans are vulnerable to.

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  2. me too - we found her today in the sickie enclosure - but it may just be because she needs to be separated from her brood prior to re-mating options.

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  3. Well, she's alive, so that's good.

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