(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
This is actually a repost of a week old diary but the tip jar is from today.
Somehow I got mixed op and in my confusion I decided that political blogging and Flicka are the same thing. I do many sunsets at Dkos and very often focus on the parks of New York City. My favorite being Van Cortlandt Park that was named after the city’s first elected mayor.
So I’m going to repost this little photoplay and see how it goes over here. Starting off with a picture from last week that has become my new favorite photo. This is the Van Cortlandt Lake in the afternoon sun.
The softer weather that everyone has been enjoying broke today. Before this morning’s snow it was some great walking weather. While I’m always taking walks on the nature trails of the Bronx and by the Van Cortlandt Lake, I’ve had some company lately. Some days the trails were as crowded as they are in summer.
Last week I photographed a father and daughter enjoying themselves feeding swans and below the fold is what I watched last Thursday. It was a very enjoyable sight and would have made a nice moving picture.
Do you remember William Marshall “Let…the cartoooon…begin!”
I got there at the same time as this little girl and her Grandmother. While the dominant birds on the lake in this nice weather are around a thousand geese, the seagulls spotted their bag of bread instantly.
The word got out fast.
And the child was delighted.
Then one of the big swans got wind of the offerings on the other side of the lake and went to investigate.
The swan came right in and took charge.
And not being the least bit shy, decided to get up close and personal.
The little girl had no fear and wanted to pet the big swan.
She holds out a big piece of delicious Bronx Italian bread.
The swan winds up.
And here’s the pitch.
Still no sign of fear out of this courageous child but Grandma backed her away from the big bird.
And she got in the block for the second lunge.
Then she had had enough with the big bad swan.
Banished from the big bag of bread to go back to his or her regular haunt.
End of story but a little bit of equal time for Daddy and his little girl.
I’m very fond of the birds on the lake and the geese actually know me. if I go there without any bread or popcorn they catch an attitude.
I hope you enjoyed these photos. I know I did.
27 comments
Skip to comment form
Author
I saw many of the pics elsewhere but that didn’t diminish the joy of seeing them again.
Good for Grandma, btw: Swans can be very aggressive. (So can geese: my father got chased by one when he was about 4 years old…and in the medieval period, geese were kept not only for meat & eggs but also b/c they would sound the alarm if any intruders were around. Or so I have read, anyway.)
collect swan figurines but they are very territorial and can be mean, real mean. But these pictures are wonderful. And they seem to know the man and don’t feel threatened. Thank you.
goose couple who have goslings every spring on the pond behind our house.
they are quite fascinating and father goose is a stern taskmaster who keeps watch on his children with extreme vigilance.
they have quite distinct personalities, i think, and geese are very smart.
the goslings learn specific calls when they are still in their eggshells. when i learned that i dubbed them the geniuses of the bird world.
i would like to think that the swan with the little girl is just begging. the relative size of their bodies is quite revealing however. clearly the swan could get the best of that tiny girl. on balance, i would have like to have seen it play out. of course the grandmother was right to intervene, but it would have been wonderful to see what happened if the swan actually made close friends with the little girl.
Very nice set & great capture of the parent, children, swan interactions.
Is the swan with the little girl, called “Stretch”?
Oh yeah, NYC. 😉
I showed this essay to some of the Haitian staff. Great smiles and laughter. pointing at the partially frozen lake, the leafless trees. It brought cheer. You have no idea. Thank you, TMC
and nice distraction from the insanity. I always enjoyed your diaries ‘over there’, takes forever to load on my dial up, but it’s worth the time. Thank you.
I have to chime in on the swans, beautiful birds, but I stay far away from them, due to a nasty and painful encounter, unless I carry a big stick. 🙂
Had a funny encounter with a duck once, poor thing had a toe fetish and was hell bend on getting my toes, chased me all the way to the cafe where I sought shelter. It was hilarious!