Swan Watching

On Sunday, hubby and I took Dakota and decided to search out Lasalle Park in Burlington, Ontario. I had seen on Ruth's blog that the Trumpeter and Mute swans had spent the winter there. I know that the swans leave sometime in March to go north to the tundra to nest. I wanted to take Mom and the boys to see them.

Above, a juvenile swan in the foreground. You can tell it's a juvenile because it is quite gray. The white feathers don't come in until the bird matures. There were also Canadian geese and some mallards in the area.

Look at all the beautiful swans. The ones with the black beaks are Trumpeters and they make a honking sound--like a trumpet. The orange-beaked swans are Mutes. They make very little noise. It's more like a soft hissing.

A shot from the boat ramp. On the horizon you can see a factory belching smoke. Pollution galore spews from the smoke stacks.

I was lucky to get a seagull swooping over the Bay with this shot. It's amazing what digital cameras will pick up and mine isn't the best of digital cameras. The Skyway Bridge is in the background.

I finally got hubby to take a photo of Dakota and I. He is getting big and I knew if I was going to have a photo of me holding him, it had to be soon. When he visited the vet on March 2, he weighed 13 lbs. He's no longer the little 5 lb. baby we brought home at the beginning of February.

Dakota loved the swans and watched them carefully, though he didn't try to chase them or bother them in any way. He did pick up the odd feather he found and tossed it into the air. People stopped to talk to him and pet him and he had a great day going along for the ride. We all enjoyed the outing.

On Tuesday, I took Mom and the boys to Lasalle Park, which is on Burlington Bay, so they could see the swans. I was surprised at how many birds had left since Sunday. I will post Tuesday's photos tomorrow. I actually got some awesome shots because there were less people present.

Our weather has turned chilly, just in time for the official arrival of spring. In fact, tonight as I'm typing this, snowflakes are drifting from the sky and there's actually a bit of accumulation on the roofs of houses and cars.

The nice weather this week has spoiled us. When the boys and I were out and about today, we were actually chilly with our winter coats on. Dreams of spring continue. ~Blessings, Mary~