Pictures Taken By you...

[Iain Sparrow]

You want to fatten those fish up, Iain.

I wasn't aware swans were carnivorous... perhaps there have been rare incidents of a swan devouring a small child holding a bag of two-week-old bread. I'm *ok* with that.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

A lot of catching up to do, wonderful photos by all spanning the last several pages.
I enjoyed the tour of the gallery.

[Calidore]

Wait, how come swans kill geese?

I think swans are kind of the bird equivalent of buffaloes--big and mean. I've read that swans will attack other animals and humans also. A swan can break a man's leg, and can drag a dog, for example, into the water and drown it.

[Pompey Bum]

Aw the only ones buffalo bother are the dummies who walk up, put a hand on their humps, and say, "Okay Margey, take the picture!"

My theory about the swan is that the box used to contain something it liked to eat--pieces of bread or something--but now has only fragments or crumbs. The swan is greedily trying to gobble these up, but can't manage the job well because of its bill. So bits spill out and the fish chow down. Sorry to rain on the parade, but whatever's going on, it's not sharing. Nature's a cruel gal.

[Pompey Bum]

P.S. Here's a comment from one of the videos that YN posted:

"They actually aren't feeding them. Swans drop their food in the water before they eat it so that they can consume it mixed with water which keeps it from getting stuck in their throats. The koi have just learned this and in this case are parasitic to the swans. The more you know!"

Oh well, so I was close.

[Dreamwoven]

This is a very interesting subject, like Clopin I had no idea swans were so hostile to geese.

[North Star]

Swans are indeed very hostile to all other birds, but they can't break your limb - other than by making you fall over while being chased.

But, back to the topic. . .

[YesNo]

I like the closeups of the blossoms, North Star, on your last two photos.

Regarding the swans, I suspect the fish are to swans as pigeons are to people picking up what drops to them as Pompey Bum explains.

[Pompey Bum]

Actually I think I've gone over to the "softening up the food by dropping it in the water" explanation. Imagine doing the Heimlich maneuver on a swan!

[YesNo]

However it gets in the water is likely irrelevant to the fish, but those swans must know once they drop the food in the water it doesn't stay there long. I'm surprised they don't try to scare the fish away like they do the geese.

There may even be some swans who can't read the signs about not feeding the fish.

[Clopin]

Where I come from feeding wildlife is heavily illegal. Are swans expected to obey to laws of men? Should we be holding swans to the same standards of behaviour as we do people? These are important questions.

Edit: And I'm not sure bylaw smiles upon instances of wanton geese slaughter either.

[Pompey Bum]

However it gets in the water is likely irrelevant to the fish

Fair enough, but don't we need to change the analogy from pigeons in a park to mice in a kitchen? The swan is not feeding the fish as people sometimes feed pigeons. The fish are merely taking what they can get.

[Lykren]

Where I come from feeding wildlife is heavily illegal. Are swans expected to obey to laws of men? Should we be holding swans to the same standards of behaviour as we do people? These are important questions.

Edit: And I'm not sure bylaw smiles upon instances of wanton geese slaughter either.

Here in California geese-slaughter is encouraged. In addition, most California swans have lawyers, so even if the murder of geese and feeding of fish were illegal acts, prosecuting them would be a Herculean task. #SwanPrivilege #EndTheSwanarchy #ReclaimThePonds

[Clopin]

Haha racist cops don't arrest white swans, it's a damn shame.

[YesNo]

Fair enough, but don't we need to change the analogy from pigeons in a park to mice in a kitchen? The swan is not feeding the fish as people sometimes feed pigeons. The fish are merely taking what they can get.

I don't understand why the swans don't peck at the fish and move them out of the way if all that is going on is getting the food wet. They don't seem to be annoyed by the fish as they are with geese or with me as I walk near them especially with their young around. They seem to be playing with the fish in some way.

I remember having some chickens and a dog. The dog had to be on a chain. The chickens were free to run around as they choose. The chickens knew just how far the chain went and when they got bored would edge across the circumference of the dog's house to get his attention. He would get up and jump at them and they would head back as if they were teenagers on a ride at an amusement park. They knew just how long the dog's chain was. I'm sure he did, too, but he probably figured he might just this one time get lucky and those birds were ticking him off.

So, I don't know. I'm willing to accept that it is just a matter of getting food wet, but then I remember those chickens.

Here's a picture of potted flowers on our patio. It was raining and I thought the blue of the umbrella protecting the camera from the rain was a nice replacement for the sky. I'm calling it "Red and Blue with Green and Rain".