Warning: graphic fish slaying content ahead. Other than that it is an engaging photo novella about coming-of-age, disappointment, triumph, and the realities of life and death. So please read on if you are not faint of heart.
We went for a drive along the St. Clair River towards Corunna and stopped at Guthrie Park. Guthrie is one of many small parks that dot the St Clair Parkway and a good place to go bird watching.
We walked over to the small land protrusion to get closer to the birds.
We were really taken by the beautiful mute swans.
Mute swans are distinguishable by their orange beak and the black protrusion on their forehead.
We notice that the swans were busy.
They stare at the water intensely.
Lunge their head forward under the water.
Start pulling their head out of the water
while thrashing their head from side to side with an obvious fish in their beak.
And then fling it in the air.
Enter swan junior for a fishing lesson by Daddy (?).
Watching intently and memorizing the steps: head in.
thrash the fish about.
Thanks drop it back in the water.
Now it your turn to try it. That’s right. Head in first.
Oops. Dropped it.
See, this is how you do it. Move your head from side to side like this.
Okay, try again.
Yay! I got one. But Mommy missed it…
The lesson went on for some time, until…
Daddy found a big fish and chased junior away.
Daddy violently flung the fish in a direction away from junior just in case.
only later, when we looked at the pictures we realized what was happening to the fish in the picture above.
This is the gory part.
Swans are not as innocent as they seem.
The other side of the bridge was a lot more peaceful
There is a small footbridge over Talfourd creek. We walked over to the other side and watched a much more peaceful scenery of swans gliding through misty waters.
The water of the creek are much warmer than the river there is a lot of vapour where the two meet.
We then realized why there was such a fishing frenzy and why it looked like the swans didn’t have to work very hard for their fish. Click on the photo below to enlarge it. So many fish!
We looked back one more time at these seemingly pure and innocent creatures.
Just like beautiful brides, there may be more than meets the eye.
As we were leaving, a bald eagle flew above, but we only managed a very bad picture.
It was a good day. I hope you made it all the way to the end with us.
Wow! What an action shot! I’d say that you have a future as a filmmaker of gory movies.🤣 Survival of the fittest is a real thing when it comes to the world of nature. I do find it a bit amusing that swans, who are always portrayed as such gentle, graceful, and majestic creatures are anything but when it comes to food.
I had to laugh at myself with your first reference to mute swans because I didn’t know that was a particular species. I thought you were referring to swans that were mute (not making any sounds).😊
haha, they are anything but. Here is an excerpt from the Cornell Lab about their calls. They sound almost as disturbing as their eating habits are: “Mute Swans aren’t mute, but their hoarse, muffled trumpet or bugle call given during territorial defense doesn’t carry like the calls of other swan species. Mute Swans also make an explosive snorting or hissing when threatened or disturbed. Mates greet each other with a short, snoring sound, and females solicit their mates with a slow glock, glock call. Female swans call to their broods with a sound like a yapping puppy. When in a group Mute Swans growl, whistle, and snort at each other. Cygnets whistle a soft, low-volume contact call when preening or feeding with adults, and peep noisily at a high pitch when distressed or lost.”
Thanks for the information. Sounds like your typical male—we’re all bluster and hot air. 😂
I guess everyone has to eat! 😂
They are beautiful birds. Their dining habits need some work.
Haha, no kidding! If you look at my reply to Pete (above) you will see that their communication skills go hand in hand with their eating habits 🙂
Fascinating…..I drove the St. Clair years ago, visiting a friend and some lighthouses and then heading south along it heading for home, but I dinna see any swans! You were lucky.
I think it depends on the time of the year. It looks like they are around that area in the winter. There is certainly plenty of food for them to eat there!
Reads like a children’s story until the bitter truth is revealed. I especially love the misty swan shots. Is this recent? We only have swans in March and October. Maggie
Haha, thanks! Yes, this was just a couple of days ago. I am assuming that they winter here, but I still have a lot to learn about the local bird environment. We are only three hours from the Toronto area, but this is a completely different climate and zone.
Nature doesn’t surprise me. I love swans, even though they are fierce! Did you know that Anna Pavlova had a pet swan? She was photographed with it too
I didn’t know that, but I can certainly see how a ballerina would be attracted to swans!
The dance The Dying Swan was created for Anna Pavlova. It’s a famous piece
Also, before Anna Pavlova died, her last words were, “Prepare my swan costume”
i looked it up. Her swan’s name was Jack.
I forgot his name lol
😊
Fantastic shots taken in a lovely sequence to showcase the training process. Isn’t nature wonderful.
Thanks, it sure is! I love it when I download photos and a story creates itself.
great job capturing all of that training. and that gory shot may be jsut dady’s way of splitting the meal with Junior… 🙂
Thnks. Maybe it was, but the shot that I missed was Daddy getting all puffed up, flapping his wings and chasing junior away from the fish 🙂
Quite a catch!
The food chain in action… 🙂
Haha, it was!
Yup, don’t eff around with a hungry swan. 😆 It’s cute to see the parent trying to train the young one on the art of fishing at that poor decapitated fish’s expense! Nature truly is both interestingly beautiful and unsentimentally merciless!
It was intense and beautiful to watch. I didn’t see the actual decapitation until I looked at the photos and I wished I took more photos knowing what they were actually doing, but maybe it’s for the best 🙂
Well that was a real page turner. It had all the qualities of a good suspense drama. Wonderful pictures. Yes those swans are not at all how they are portrayed in story books.
Thank you 🙂 Yeah, graceful and pure…I don’t think so!
What a delightful essay. Of course if you want to see a beautiful and gentle animal behaving ruthlessly just watch a cat with a mouse and see how long they will torment it before they kill it.
Thank you, John! Yeah, a cat playing with a half dead mouse is a very good analogy 🙂
Awesome photos! Nature takes no prisoners and elegant swans are not to be messed with. Thanks for sharing!
Exactly! Thanks for coming along!
Swans are beautiful, but they’re vicious! They have no fear of people, and they will attack you if you have food (or get too close to them). Don’t mess with swans, period!
Yeah. It’s a good thing when they are in the water and we are on good solid ground 🙂
We don’t see the mute swans here, but we get the trumpeter swans. Both are beautiful. Thanks for this great post showing Junior how to fish. I enjoyed your photos very much.
Thank you 🙏 I think that we get both kinds here, but the mute are more prevalent than the trumpets. The mute swans are considered pests in many areas…kind of like invasive weeds.
The Trumpeter Swans are in isolated areas here – not around homes or towns. We drive an hour to see them.. I have an idea they would be pests too – given the chance.
Awesome clicks!!
Thank you!
Graphic indeed, but kind of a neat thing to witness. How cool that you got that action shot!
It was really cool! And yes, although graphic, it was interesting to watch.
Fabulous shots of the swans in action while they’re having a feast. Talk about great timing on your part to capture it. I’ve never seen so many swans before in one spot.
It may normal for this area, but we haven’t seen as many in one place either. Unlike the native trumpeter swans, mute swans are imports and are sometimes treated as invasive. Still, they were really cool to watch!
The photos of the beautiful swans are gorgeous. As far as misbehaving, I don’t think so. We eat fish too, don’t we? Ha, ha. Great post. Cheers.
Thank you! The misbehaving part may refer more to how they play with their food rather than the fact that they eat it 🙂
Holy moly, they’ll never starve with that amount of fish around!
Haha, yes, it was an unbelievable amount of fish!
Excellent illustration of the fishing method, although I’m not sure I can do it.
There were so many fish in those waters that I am sure that you could easily catch one or two. Snapping its head off with your teeth, maybe note….
What amazing pictures! What a shot of the decapitated fish!
Thank you! I was thrilled to discover this shot after downloading on my computer.
Wow great shot of the swan with the fish. Nice catch to both of you!
Thank you! The swan had its catch and we had our 😊
I had to ask Bruce how to spell decapitated and he said, “I am afraid to ask what you are doing!” I showed him the picture and he was impressed.
Haha, I can see in my mind what went through his head at the moment…the secret life of Julia 🙂
😂
Not your typical lovely swan photos… you are patient to catch the final result!
Not at all. I wish I could say that it was intentional and due to hours of patiently waiting for this outcome, but I only noticed the details in this photo after downloading it on ,my computer 🙂
😄
I have never liked swans. The way they hiss reveals a lot. Give me a pelican any day!
Or puffins. I like puffin, but not sure if the are better behaved actually 🙂
Looks like a lot of fish had their swan song here. Great pix. Allan
Haha, I think you might be right 🙂