It’s not quite On Golden Pond which was a story of human love and caring that was played out in a beautiful setting. No, but what I witnessed at the Grist Mill Pond in Plymouth on Sunday had all the earmarks of devotion and love but in the animal world.
When I arrived at the pond Mr. Swan was putting on quite the display. At first it just appeared that he was a bad-tempered if beautiful bird.
He was expending a lot of energy chasing every goose that crossed his path.
He was one seriously nasty bird!
He even took them on in pairs!
Smaller birds like the mallard stayed far out-of-the-way under the trees along the bank.
The cormorant took a break from his fishing to get out of the way and dry his feathers.
Eventually I found the cause of Mr. Swan’s angst.
It appears the Mr. Swan is going to be a dad. On the far side of the pond was a nest. It was almost completely camouflaged until Mrs. Swan raised her head. As I was getting the “long lens” to get a picture of this domestic scene, Mr. Daddy Swan returned home.
You could almost believe you heard “I’m home dear”! 🙂 Both Swans began preening and then set to work reinforcing the nest with weeds and muck from the pond. (And we thought we had a hard day at the office !)
Activity on the pond returned to normal.
Off near the bank, under the trees, a shy female duck joined the Mallard as well.
The robin returned to the bank to resume his hunt for a meal.
Looks like I’ll be keeping a look out for baby swans…they’re ugly ducklings aren’t they?
