Preening Swans, Cliff Swallow Colony and an Osprey

This morning I visited a marsh on the Scarborough / Pickering border. The first birds that I saw were a family of Trumpeter Swans with seven young. The parents appeared to be giving a grooming lesson.

Trumpeter Swan
Trumpeter Swan wing
Trumpeter Swan chick
Trumpeter Swan chick
Trumpeter Swan chick
Trumpeter Swan chicks
Trumpeter Swan chick
Trumpeter Swan chick
Trumpeter Swan
Trumpeter Swan chick

Cliff Swallows are amazing “potters” as you can see from these photos of their handiwork under a bridge:

Cliff Swallows
Cliff Swallow nests
Cliff Swallow
Cliff Swallows
Cliff Swallows
Cliff Swallows

Wait at a marsh long enough and you have a good chance of spotting an Osprey. This one performed several flyover missions:

Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey and Cliff Swallow
Osprey and Cliff Swallow
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey
Osprey

Other birds:

American Robin
Canada Geese
Red-winged Blackbird (female)
Red-winged Blackbird (female)
Mallard (female)
Mallard “speculum”
Mallards

NATURE POETRY

Cool in the very furnace of July
The water-meadows lie;
The green stalks of their grasses and their flowers
They still refresh at fountains never dry.                  – John Drinkwater (1882–1937)

Miles Hearn

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