...food.
These are my fellow-swans, who come to me nearly everyday, knowing that I have bread with me. One in particular lays down on my foot, to make sure I do not go away, until I have given the last piece of bread. He bites softly in my knee if I do not give him the bread he begs for. Then all accompany me to the road and let me go away...till the following morning.
27 comments:
great photos
I hope I do not mind coming to visit I love your pictures
Nice picture and beautiful story indeed. It reminds me this man (photo 1 and 2) I have met in Thessaloniki some years ago: he goes to feed pigeons every so with seeds or cereals. And he even know them almost personally: for example he showed me a pigeon who had problems eating because his nozzle was broken. So he simply took it and put it inside his bag full of seeds so that the pigeon could eat ‘peacefully’.
Que bonita historia es preciosa...los animales son sorprendentes y muy agradecidos.
La foto me gusta mucho su composicion ...es magnifica.
Besos
These swans sound like very spoiled children -:)
That's quite a collection of birds -- surely the pigeons and gulls benefit from your visits as well! It's nice you have such a peaceful relationship with them all.
Thank you for your kind comments, Ali!! Of course you are always welcome!
Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ για τις παρατηρήσεις σας, Θάνος!
Muchas gracias por los amables comentarios, Ma Angeles y Jose!!
They are very spoiled (by me), Chuck!!
I was always afraid of swans but now I just stand in the middle of them while I feed them, and they are like children, begging for more. As I mentioned, some of them bite me in my fingers, or in my knee or leg, but they just want immediate attention (= food. Funnily enough, when they see me arriving, while I walk along the lake towards the spot where they can come out of the water, they all start swimming quickly to that point, come out of the water and waddle towards me. Sometimes there are 10 or 15. If they exagerate with biting me, they get a tick on the snout, but they do not mind. They are wonderful.
Thank you too, Cheryl!!
The birds deserve to be spoiled.
You are so good and so brave! I love this story.
The photo is clear proof.
Do you talk to your bird kin, like St. Francis preached to his brother birds?
AWwwww, now we must have a photo of you with the swans! Perhaps your wife or son could do it for us??
V
What a delightful story! I love swans and your photo is beautiful! It's wonderful to be able to communicate with them as you do. I stopped by your other blog and your photos are breathtaking. Thanks for stopping by my blog! Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!
Sylvia
lovely image and a heartwarming tale!
Bonjour,
C'est avec un grand plaisir que je découvre votre blog , de très belles photos de beaux souvenirs pour moi , j'ai eu l'occasion de passer quelque temps dans la région.
les photos sur l'autre blog sur le lac Majeur sont extras.
Merci , j'ai fait une très belle promenade ce matin.
Bonne journée à vous.
Thank you, Steffe!!
Thank you, Dina!!
Yes I only talk to them to tell them off them when they start biting too much: they get a tick on their snout and they just step back. After a while they waggle back to me, pushing me with their beak, begging for more.
I would not do this with swans I do not know. These I have known for about 2 years now. They are fantastic.
I would have to try and take a picture of myself, Virginia!!
To get my wife outside in this weather is impossible. My son lives too far away...
I will think of something.
Thank you too for your kind comments, Sylvia!!
Thank you ery much, Magiceye!!
Merçi a vous, Françoise, et bon dimanche!!
Good for you. It is nice to have friends like this. And the photo of the ducks and geese is a nice one. And I used to do the same thing every morning in the winter months. Food is hard to find then and they waited for me to come and feed them. I fed them 50 pounds of cracked corn every morning.
No kidding? They really recognize you? Cool! And what a gaggle! Fantastic photo, as always.
Do you know what I think,Diederick? Swans are made to go on the water, that is where they are truly elegant! Good shot,
RG
How nice! There used to be a mating pair of swans in the pond near my house. An old man used to come clean the pond of debris from time to time and the male swan would follow him all around the pond, like a dog. When the man would stop to pull things out of the water the swan would just circle and wait for him.
You hear about swans being mean, but I think there are always exceptions to the "rules", no?
Lovely photo.
Very nice pictures Diederick !
Buy your wife a nice mink coat and maybe she will venture out! HA I wish I could fly over and photograph it all myself. My photographs of Paris in the freezing and snow were hard but how could I pass it up? I think I needed those gloves without fingers or something!
V
How amazing, Diederick. I always thought swans were rather dangerous birds and to be avoided. How good to read you have one who lays on your foot. What a privilege. And such a beautiful photograph too.
Thankyou for the suggestion of 'the nest.' I think you are probably right as I did see a quotation using those Provencal words alongside amore - ie the 'love nest.' It makes sense.
I like that story. We had ten swans on our river in Montpellier. They did not stay there for long. Some people said they had been killed and/or stolen. I think swans look like geese when they are out of the water :-))
Nice photo with the swans - the red beak stands out well and adds colour.
Cheers.
Melbourne Daily Photo
D,
Could you be the "Swan Whisperer"?? :)
V
Nice, both the text and photo:-)
When I was new in Neuchatel I sat down at the wharf and started to eat my sandwich. Suddenly dozens of water birds walked up the ramp toward me. I was surrounded by them, including swans, and one swan stood up very tall and spread his wings right in front of me. Seemed taller than me. I threw down some bread and "flew" out of there fast!
It was scary. I had never seen wild swans until then (2002).
Glad to learn that you can get to know certain ones and to discipline them.
What a richly detailed photograph. Feels like a piece of music with two different themes harmonizing perfectly.
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