• HOME
  • Books & Publications
  • Talks & Workshops
  • Meet Carol
  • Contact: Media & Booksellers

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

6/23/2011

5 Comments

 
Picture
Are these the two that survived?
You know how I worry over the swan babies—a great deal more than about goslings.  Perhaps some of them were also snatched by a snapping turtle; like the one that ate two of the four cygnets.  After their Memorial Day holiday cruse around the lake, the swan family went into hiding for many days.  I could spot some white patches from a distance in their usual habitat but as I got closer the ground sloped making it level with the tail end of Flat Iron Lake, I could not longer see them through the reeds.  I hoped against hope that all the little ones survived.

But finally, they showed them selves again in full view of our windows.  I grabbed the binoculars so as to account for the cygnets.  No matter what angle I viewed, I could see only one bright white one between the parents.  My heart sank.  Three gone, just like that?  Finally I spotted a darker body almost camouflaged by the ripples and shade on the lake.   Two survived—a male and a female.  My disappointment at losing some turned to a celebration that at least two remained.  Convinced that they are big enough now to elude their predators, I rest easy—hoping to enjoy watching the little family for the rest of the season.  They must stay on the lake until the babies learn to fly from their parents, usually late September, which is a sight to behold.

I also spot many places in the yard and along the road where the snapping turtles have laid their eggs.  The eggs are now broken and strewn close to the indented soft earth.  Another kind of predator ate the potential offspring of a predator.  I suppose I should cry over them as well—but today I don’t mind if there are going to be fewer snapping turtles laying in wait for the baby swans.  How do we decide which life is more important?


5 Comments
    Picture
    ALL NATURE SINGS  
    A Spiritual Journey of Place
    by Carol J. Rottman

    Join Carol's Mailing List

    Categories

    All
    9/11
    A Cup Of Cold Water
    Advent
    Beaver
    Butterfly Weed
    Children
    Climate Change
    Color-blindness
    Compass Plant
    Controlled Burn
    Creation Care
    Creative Non-fiction
    Cygnets
    Days Pass
    Detail
    Eagle
    Easter
    E.B. White
    Family
    Friends
    Frogs
    Garden Watch
    Giving
    Goldfinch
    Good Friday
    Grandchildren
    Home
    Home And Habitat
    House Plants
    Ice Storm
    IN-DOOR PLANTS
    Indoor Plants
    Inspiration
    Lent
    Life Continues
    Loss
    March In Michigan
    MID-WEST WINTER
    Milkweed
    Nature Notes
    Nature Watch
    Newspapers
    New Year
    NEW YEAR\\OUR HOPE
    Raspberry Bushes
    Sandhill Crains
    Simplify
    Snapping Turtles
    Snow Scenes
    Special Days
    Spider Web
    Starvation
    Sunrise
    Survival
    Swans
    Switch Grass
    Tall Grasses
    Thunder
    Travel
    Turtles
    Weather
    Wildflower
    Wild Life
    Winter
    Winter Beauty

    Archives

    April 2016
    March 2016
    March 2014
    June 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.