Spring is in the Air

[drplokta]

All of the waterfowl near to where we live have been busy breeding. Here are a few photos, all taken within half a mile of our flat, in inner London. Thumbnails behind the cut tags, click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.

A nesting Canada goose, a couple of turtles and a pair of great crested grebes with some grebelings riding on their mother's back

A pair of Canada geese guarding their goslings

A coot with three cootlings, continuing their master-plan for world domination (we have at least five sets of breeding coots nearby, and we expect to be knee-deep in them in a couple of years) (This one is actually quite a good photo)

Boris & Petronella's eggs have finally hatched, and there are five cygnets

Comments

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

post 'em to baaaaabyanimals

[redcountess]

He might want to edit the pic first, I can see a dead one in the background :-(
(Here from flickgc's post)

[redcountess]

Um, I meant the swans and signets photo!

[ladyoflight2004.livejournal.com]

It was this time of year I used to love so much when I worked at Regent's College. I used to walk in the rose garden which has a lake on which all of these same birds used to nest and breed. Wonderful, isn't it? Never fails to make glow. Thanks for the piccies.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

I'd rather have the coots and the swans than the Canada Geese. They're ubiquitous here in the US Midwest, and they're considered a gigantic pain in the butt; very mean, agressive, hard to push off, and they eat like mad and there's green goose *er* grease -everywhere-.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Yup. Giant flying rats. They're a major ecological problem, as they drive out other waterfowl, grey squirrel like, unless you actively suppress them.

Apparently they aren't protected in any way in the UK (unlike most waterfowl), there is no close season, and they are delicious. I only mention.

[drplokta]

Actually, when a couple of Canada geese settled on the dock outside our window, the swans chased them off immediately. It looks like the other waterfowl can drive out the Canada geese rather than vice versa.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

They're also a flight safety menace, as noted by this CAA report.

[armb.livejournal.com]

> there is no close season, and they are delicious. I only mention.

How would someone without a firearms licence humanely, reliably, and legally, kill a Canada goose? Just out of curiosity.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

The answer is Nolly-style super duper airguns; but yes, there's a catch, which is you can only do it on your own land. Otherwise, I don't know. Goose traps?

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Awww. I must take a walk down my own canal and see what's happening. Round my parts they clearly take some of the babies away and redispose of them to other parks to prevent overcrowding - I call it "being taken into care" :-)

[frostfox.livejournal.com]

Turtles! Wow.

FF

[drplokta]

They're probably abandoned pets that got too big.

[stillcarl.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Especially the coot chicks!