Tuesday 24 February 2015

A cool find by the river

While walking along the canal the other morning to see if there the Swans or Grebes had returned to the lake. Something caught my eye at the side of the canal where the old vegetation had died back revealing a Swan skeleton which I think was from 2014. Last summer a yearling died after fighting with the local pair which at that time was Flash and Snow, it started as a territory dispute although sad it's natural behavior. I have seen some people locally break up these fights by hitting the attacking swan. I think that's wrong and as it's a natural event I don't believe we should step in but if one of the Swans was pushed onto a road by the attacking swan then humans should step in. I remember seeing the Swans body floating on the canal and then it disappeared. I'm guessing somebody took the bird out of the water and placed it in the thick vegetation to rot away naturally.
The skull is an unusual find due to the condition as it's very fragile due to high light the bones are. We only took the skull and left the rest of the Swan as it will be great for future talks and showing people as I am sure there are not many people who have seen a Mute Swan skull.

Thanks for reading my blog
Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 
Mike

2 comments:

  1. Nice find. I found the bottom half of a pelican skull a couple of years ago - it was huge - but when I picked it up it fell apart! I think it may have been rather old.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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    1. That's great it's always exciting finding something unexpected.

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