Striebel Pond Swans and How They've Grown

It was so fun last year watching the swans grow but I don't know what happened to them in the Fall. Did they migrate? I heard that one died but there are varying stories about whether it was a parent or one of the young ones. I'm leaning toward one of the young ones. I also heard that they tried to come back this last Spring and were driven out of there by the parents. I'd be interested to know the real story.

This year the swan pair hatched SIX babies right after a big storm last Spring. I talked all about it here. And here are more pictures of them taken that first day after they hatched.

I've watched their progress and how fiercely protective the male was of his territory. I thought he hated geese and talked about it here and here and here. I now think he considered geese to be the biggest threat to his little ones because now that the baby swans have grown into young adult swans, the geese and the male co-exist without all that drama.

I've had a hard time photographing the swans lately. They tend to hang near the edge of the pond when I'm there and with the grass being about five feet tall now, I can't get a clear shot. So the other night I took my life in my hands and fought my way to near the water's edge to get some pictures of the more mature swan family.

Isn't it incredible how much they've grown in just over 3 short months! Now you have to look closely to tell the mom and dad from the kids. I think that the mom and dad have dark orange on their bills and the youngsters don't but that's just my theory.

I'll try to watch more closely and visit more often to see when they take off for their southward migration. They do migrate, don't they? (I just researched a little and found this: "The young begin to fly at 4 to 5 months but usually remain with the parents through the first winter. Non-migratory in North America, Mute Swans may make short-distance, seasonal movements dictated by the weather.") It will be interesting to see what they do.

Now, as far as risking my life by making my way down to the waters edge. I chuckled to myself as I fought my way down there for being such a baby. After spending ten or fifteen minutes with the swans, I continued my walk on the trail. I rounded one curve just in time to see a large snake slither off into the grasses.

We probably won't get many more close-ups of the swans this year - at least not if we have to walk through tall grasses to get them.

Back To Striebel Pond

I just can't stay away. In fact I don't want to and the fact that I committed to walking everyday ensures that I'll keep on visiting. I miss the Dunes. I really do. But Striebel Pond is so close and the paths are so paved and safe and clean and there's so much to see that it's hard to bypass it to walk somewhere else. If there's one drawback to Striebel, it's that it is getting so popular. It's unbelievable how many people take advantage of it. And you don't see just walkers. You see joggers and runners and bicyclists, and roller blade speed demons. There are mothers pushing strollers and pulling wagons and corraling children that want to run ahead or lag behind. There are old people (obviously), young people and just as many men as women. And then there are the dog walkers with dogs of every breed and every temperament.
Don't get me wrong. I think all of that is good and there's plenty of room on the course for lots of people but sometimes it can get a tiny bit complicated when someone is going almost your speed but not quite and you have to pass them and there's oncoming. You get the picture. Mostly though I love it. Everybody is friendly and everybody is nice. And several times people have stopped me because I'm carrying a camera to tell me of a photo op that they discovered. Here's the most recent and it's a good one.
Then I spotted the swans. Or was I spotted first.
After I saw him, I knew the rest were nearby. And I was right. They were just hanging unusually closet to the shore today.
The wild flowers that were sown around the pond are blooming like crazy right now. I took just a few shots and liked them all well enough that I'm going to include them.

And my favorite:
These last pictures of the swans weren't taken today but when I took them I was able to get above and unusually close to them so I wanted to share them eventually. Today feels like eventually to me.
So that's it from Striebel Pond today. Until next time, this is Stillmary (no matter how old I am) signing off and wishing you all a good day.

You Capture - Water

I was so excited when I found out the subject of this week's You Capture would be water. It was perfect. We were finally finishing the renovation of our water garden so I would be able to show pictures of the hopefully beautiful finished product. The one thing I knew for sure was that I wouldn't be posting pictures of Striebel Pond since I posted a zillion of those last week.

So here are my 'water' pictures - all taken at Striebel Pond. You know the old saying, "the best laid plans......"

These are all SOOC. No editing. I don't have time. I've got a water garden to finish.

For lots of beautifully creative water shots, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry.

Striebel Pond Yesterday

I know I know. You're tired of seeing more Striebel Pond activity. But, in my defense, it is my journal and I'm powerless to quit. I just can't go out there with a camera and not take pictures. It seems like there's always something interesting to photograph. Certainly the aerobic integrity of my walk is compromised every time I stop to take a picture but I do it anyway. Ultimately, I'm still walking 3 1/2 miles, and except, for those moments when I stop to snap a pic, I walk pretty fast.

In Friday's post I said I would post pictures of other things I saw, today. Here they are.

Don't you just love that they have drinking fountains for dogs?

I thought there were some really beautiful growing things:

And some really interesting flying things:

Including this one. I know it sounds crazy but I've been trying for days to capture a flying dragonfly. It's very challenging because they zigzag all over the place. Finally I had some success. It's not the best picture ever but it's a double. I wonder how and why they were flying together like that. (You really might HAVE to click on this one to see it better. Then just hit the back arrow on your browser to return.)

And then there was this growing thing with a flying thing on it.

Okay, that's it. Didn't I capture a lot of fascinating things? They were to me anyway. And I know when Rhonda, Nancy and I walk out there, we won't see a thing worth photographing.

Isn't that just the way it goes?

My How They've Grown

Sure, I know you're probably tired of hearing about the swans but if I don't keep you updated, all of a sudden they'll be grown and gone or something will happen to them and you'll be so mad that you never saw it coming. So, just to refresh your memory, here's how they looked the first time I saw them on May 13th.

And here's how they look today, busily trying to emulate their parents by trying to pull grass up from the bottom of the pond.

Seriously, can you believe they're this big in three short weeks?!

Aren't their little faces incredibly cute?

Here's a shot with mom and the kids so you can get a perspective on the sizes.

And here's the whole family hurriedly trying to escape the crazy lady with the camera.

That's it. Just keeping you informed. Tomorrow I'll show you what else I saw at Striebel Pond today. That is, if I don't go to the Dunes which I'm dying to do, and take pictures even more interesting than I think today's are.

Striebel Pond Swans

In August of last year, I took a series of pictures of the five swans at Striebel Pond. There was a mating pair and their three offspring.
I, along with many other walkers, runners, and cyclists in the area, watched these swans grow from babies to almost adults and it was heartwarming.

I wasn't sure why, but the pictures I took at the end of October showed a total of four swans. I assumed some predator had gotten one of the youngsters but a runner who spent a lot more time out there last year than I did told me that she was there one day when a dead adult male was removed from the island in the north pond. She said that he had some kind of growth on his foot.

Cut to Spring, 2010. This picture was taken on March 12th. The mating pair appears to be back but as we'll find out later, it's a new male. I also heard that about a month before the Swan/Goose Terror, three swans had tried to move into Striebel Pond and were run out by the new male. The person who told me this felt it was the three young swans from last year trying to come back. This attempted invasion was confirmed by a comment on my Terror at Striebel Pond Series left by someone who obviously spends a lot of time out there. This person said that on April 22nd a male "Mute Swan protected pond from three interloping smaller swans (unknown breed).. Very aggressive at protecting his turf."

And by March 26th, the female and her new Mr. are nesting.

This was an interesting process in itself. Sometimes the male would be right there with the setting female.

Occasionally I saw him on what appeared to be his own nest.

But mostly, while his lady, did the hard work.

He cruised around the pond - probably making sure there were no unwelcome interlopers out there.
Needless to say, everyone watched the swans every day. It seemed to me that they were nesting far too long and I began to wonder if the eggs were sterile.

Then for three nights in a row, the male was always right there within inches of the female on her nest and I wondered if a swan hatching was imminent or even if it might have occurred.

On the third night after they were constantly together, we had a terrible storm. I was up most of the night just watching the weather. There were high winds and torrential rains. The next day when I got to Striebel Pond, the nest was gone. The water was much higher (after all Striebel Pond is really a catch basin for a flood plain) and there were just sticks floating around where there had been a carefully constructed swan nest.

And there at the end of the pond, maybe a little less than a quarter mile from where the nest had been, there was a brand new family.

Of course, I couldn't get too close. The male was very protective but I did want to get close enough so that, with the help of my zoom lens, I could count the young. There were six. Three gray and three white.

It was so heartwarming to see them.

Here they are as of yesterday.

But every since that stormy night, I wonder what kind of drama played out there in the dark, and the wind, and the rain. And I wonder how two adult swans managed to keep those babies together and moved to a safer end of the pond. I guess that proves that they're good at what they do and they have to be. There are predators out there, just waiting for a chance to snack on a baby.

So life goes on at Striebel Pond and I'm one of the lucky people that gets to watch it.