Ruffled Feathers

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.

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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.

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Text by Liz, photos by Liz and Nigel; Exploring Colour (2019)