|
Hi
All
For
the past month or so I have been observing as often as possible a
family of
swans:
two adults and five (originally six) cygnets.
The cygnets were born in
suburban Belconnen, very unseasonably on June 7th,or possibly 6th, i missed one
day of observing.
The nest was in Pond 1 at Dunlop on the edge of
suburbia.
It is a pretty busy pond much visited by large dogs and overlooked
by houses.
During the period the female was sitting the male spent much
of its time at Pond 2 where given later events i presume the food was
better.
For those who do not know Pond 2 is about 600 metres from Pond 1
along a footpath on the western edge of Dunlop.
It is also about 500 metres
as the crow (were we to have them in Canberra) flies.
During there first
two weeks i was surprised to see the cygnets riding on the back of either
parent.
On one occassion i saw one parent with four on board
and on another three on
each parent.
They travelled both tidily and untidilly.
An untidy ride;
four (i think) up; but maybe only two.
A tidy ride.
This was the last occasion on which i observed the behaviour
about five weeks ago.
This gives rise to my first group of
questions:
(i) is this carrying a common practice ?
(ii) do they do it on
land and water or merely water ?
(iii) I guess for completeness i should have
included air ? in (ii).
When the cygnets were one to three days old I
photographed them at Pond 1 in poor light at about 08:30.
The day
subsequently cleared and I returned about 11:00 only to find that the whole
family had decamped
and travelled to pond 2 which they have not left
since.
To date only one cygnet has been lost (cat? fox? cold? motor
cycle? trodden on by cow?).
My second group of questions:
(i)
what level of communication is necessary between the adults to carry
out this change of location
?.
The complexity of language would seem to me to be
far greater than
one would normally assosciate with birds.
(ii) Do swans normally
switch locations shortly after hatching ?
(iii) were the cygnets carried or
did they walk ?
i have yet to see one walk and
5 weeks have passed.
When Joe Barr mentioned (mid-May) on the chat line
that the bird was sitting,
he drew no response. This surprised me.
Hence
my third question:
How unusual are cygnets in June in
Canberra?
roger
curnow.
For those who like swan photos a few of the thosand i have taken
in the last eight weeks can be seen for a short while at:
|
|
