As we walked down to the large ponds I spotted a couple supervising their quintuplets.. a black swan family out for a jaunt. The parent I assumed to be dad was at the rear and standing tall, on guard and alert, feathers ruffled. Mum was busy having a feed. I saw the cygnets hurrying along one after the other, well fed and plump, stolidly plodding onwards until they caught up with mum.
Maple Glen Gardens, Glenham, Southland, New Zealand.
Photos taken Sunday, 06 Oct 2019.
This is the only photo taken by me – tightly cropped and I ramped up the contrast.
Here’s the original, although I cropped off much of the shrub on the left.
The cygnets joined mum. Cropped from a photo by Nigel.
Below: the whole family, taken by Nigel.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
The dad swan, taken by Nigel.
Text by Liz, photos by Liz and Nigel; Exploring Colour (2019)
I initially took “black swan” in a figurative rather than literal sense:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blackswan.asp
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How interesting.. I was unaware of that meaning.
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What a treat to see a family of swans. Lovely photos Liz.
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It was a treat Wendy. The cygnets looked so plump, soft and cute!
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A nice day in the park for this happy family.
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Sweet
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I always love seeing photos of the Black Swan, they have their own elegance and beautiful coloring. We only have ‘white’ ones here in the U.S., thank you for sharing!
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My pleasure! It’s rare to see white swans here and I’ve only ever seen them in a park situation but black swans are common and can even be a nuisance if the population gets too high.
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It’s always fun to see these families out and about, Liz!
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Wow!
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A beautiful spring surprise!
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