Going for a Ride

Well, here is a post I was looking forward to putting up for a while... 

I think this was one of my favourite lunch hours so far at Bayfront Park.

Enjoy!

The "ugly" duckling?

Proud momma with five cygnets.

Pile on mom!!

Wait for me!

High, dry, and cozy.

Best seat on the ride.

Starting to preen right away.

Dozing off.

Taking up the rear.

the Cob just up from a snack.

Here is some more information about swans on a neat website I found.  Lots of interesting facts about swans.  A few highlights that you might not have known (or may never care about):

- A swan has 23 vertebrae in that long graceful neck

- Cygnets have to peck for almost a whole day at the egg with the "egg tooth" on their little bills before hatching.  No wonder they look completely wearied when they hatch, wobbling all over the place.

The male is called a "cob", and the female a "pen".

- The cob typically can be distinguished as the larger of the two, and also has a larger knob at the base of its beak.

A beautifully designed bird, enjoyable to watch with their young.

The Other Squab

The second Mourning Dove hatched today, and now there are two little dusty yellow ones in the very sparse nest.  

Both little white eggs have hatched

Not much comfort here, only some small sticks to rest on.  There isn't a bit of comfort added to this nest in the way of down, feathers, or grass.  I'm not sure if they nest in the same place (up to six broods per summer) or whether they make new nests every time - that might explain the sparse nest then.

The one which hatched today is on the left - it's smaller.

Each time I go up, the Mourning Dove does its false, desperate flight into branches, fluttering to the ground, and then flaps along the grass feigning injury to have me follow it away from the nest.  It's similar to what killdeer do, but with much less determination, persistence, and noise.

Mourning Dove Chick

One Mourning Dove egg hatched at some point today.  When I got home after soccer with the boys this evening, there was one, slightly fluffy chick in the nest.  The other egg shows no sign of anything yet.  Actually, the technical term for dove and pigeon babies is a "squab."  Somehow doesn't seem to fit what are normally elegant looking birds.

Mourning Dove squab

Chicks are fed crop milk, or also called dove milk, for the first few days because Mourning Dove's eat almost exclusively seeds.  Other birds eat more insects, and can then regurgitate this for their young.  Dove milk is produced as a secretion from the bird's crop. A few days before the eggs hatch, the adults won't eat so they can produce this milk.

Mourning Dove squab

The little baby is only about 40cm here.  Amazing how this comes out of the tiny egg.  The whole amazing design and working of how birds begin and hatch from an egg is an amazing design with perfectly working processes - a testament to an amazing and creative Designer!