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ON THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER . . .
On the first day of summer we took our supper of sandwiches, potato salad and chips to Sunnyside Beach. We were pleasantly surprised to find that people had been creating figures along the large rocks by placing stones one on top of the other. The Inuit natives of The Arctic practiced this art as a way of expressing themselves, leaving messages, warnings and other information to travelers. I believe they still do. The custom itself is called Inukshuk. It's a word that means "thing that can act in the place of a human being." OTHER DELIGHTS . . . Also delightful was the presence of a flock of swans. Although swans choose a mate early in life, they do not breed until they are around 4 years old. When a cygnet is around a year old, it becomes what's known as 'Juvenile'. By this time, the bird has either left or the parent birds have abandoned it to fend for itself. These birds mature quickly - they are often on their own earlier than that, and from my observations, they seem able to look after themselves. Unmated swans or pairs with no clutch to raise usually hang out together in flocks.
Mute swans are agressive birds and defend their territory with a passion. When their feathers are raised, they are often expressing a warning to another creature, including their own species. Or, they are merely grooming themselves. This aggression is a major argument that birders have when promoting the expulsion of this breed from the city. Trumpeters are the desired breed, and many say they are indeed the native swan. Their bones have been found in Toronto and it's possible they once bred and lived here - most likely before we were a 'city'. Mute Swans were introduced in the mid-fifties and the Humane Society once informed me that they were a 'gift from the Crown', so we couldn't turn 'em down. NOT QUITE 'ONE OF THE GANG' . . . Here is a young trumpeter swan, with tags. This bird is not really 'with' this flock of mutes, in the sense of being 'one of the gang'. The Mutes are not accepting it; many of the birds approached it with feathers raised.
Notice the difference from the mute - its beak is all black, sleeker and it does not have that large protrusion at the top like the mutes. Although the trumpeter swan may grow to be longer than a mute, and taller, it often weighs less.
I asked a gentleman I know who is a community leader in groups concerning wild birds and flowers and he looked into it for me. He contacted someone who is very knowledgable about swans in Ontario and a couple of days later I got my answers: Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Standing Stones and Swans in Crossword Puzzles is owned by . Permission to republish Standing Stones and Swans in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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