The Swans in the Lake.

Blowfish

panda100 wrote:

awhhhhhh that is the cutest thing ever!!I almost feel like going down to the lake,putting one into my pocket and bringing it home with me.........

Heh, go on try it. You will be pecked to death by one of the parents before you get within 2 feet of one of them.

humbert

I can just imagine those pictures:p

Font22

garrath wrote:

Here are some images I snapped of the cygnets earlier.

Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

They're a little on the big side (the images that is, the cygnets are TINY).

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! we must get theVan to post the pic of the little duckling we saw in Ranelagh park. myself, theVan and Hull went on an extended lunch break on the bank holiday and got lovely pizzas!. i asked both of them nicely to catch the duckling for me so i cud bring it home but they were too chicken!!!! hahahaha see what i did there???

garrath

If you thought the last ones were cute, have a look at these:

Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

The cygnet was on the back of one of the swans.

Font22

I WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!! they are so cute!!!

Pythia

Funny, I was just talking to my boyfriend about this a few days ago. I was suprised the swans had had no cygnets this year.
Pity there's no baby ducks though.
Mmm, duck.

Hermione*

Aw, bless. Those pics of the cygnet on the swan's back are so cute!

Panda, I must take a walk to Herbert Park and see the ducklings ... I haven't been in the park in ages!

The_Minister

beanyb wrote:

While sitting by the lake on Friday me and some friends saw two ducks getting it on. Quite disturbing really...

This was posted at me once - enjoy

Article wrote:

Ducks behave pretty badly, it seems. It is not so much that up to one in 10 of mallard couples are homosexual - no one would raise an eyebrow in the liberal Netherlands - but they regularly indulge in "attempted rape flights" when they pursue other ducks with a view to forcible mating. "Rape is a normal reproductive strategy in mallards," explains Mr Moeliker.

As he recounts in his seminal paper, The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard anas platyrhynchos, he was in his office in the Natuurmuseum Rotterdam, when he was alerted by a bang to the fact a bird had crashed into the glass facade of the building. "I went downstairs immediately to see if the window was damaged, and saw a drake mallard (anas platyrhynchos) lying motionless on its belly in the sand, two metres outside the facade. The unfortunate duck apparently had hit the building in full flight at a height of about three metres from the ground. Next to the obviously dead duck, another male mallard (in full adult plumage without any visible traces of moult) was present. He forcibly picked into the back, the base of the bill and mostly into the back of the head of the dead mallard for about two minutes, then mounted the corpse and started to copulate, with great force, almost continuously picking the side of the head.

humbert

I honestly think that's the weirdest thing I've encountered on the internet. I worry about how you spend your time firespinner:p

tintinr35

peachypants wrote:

geordie accent

Day three in the UCD lake.

The baby swans are still unaware that they are being watched by procrastinating students of UCD.

The parent swans are looking forward to today's task - seeing how many arms of said UCD student's they can break.

Mammy swan is called to the Diary Island and tells Big Brady that she's worried Daddy swan isn't pulling his weight. /geordie accent

Tune in later for more Big Brady.

roffl ah brilliant

Blush_01

I'm sad that I'm missing out.

As vicious as swans are with regards to protecting themselves and their families, they're also intensely loyal. And have monogamous relationships. Hell, if someone tried to kill one of my *future* kids, I'd more than break their arm. You can't blame them, they are wild. It's a (concrete) jungle out there!

kittenkiller

Yay!
Go swans!
Can't believe I'm only finding out now.
Should've gone in to study yesterday.

Pythia

Blush_01 wrote:

I'm sad that I'm missing out.

As vicious as swans are with regards to protecting themselves and their families, they're also intensely loyal. And have monogamous relationships. Hell, if someone tried to kill one of my *future* kids, I'd more than break their arm. You can't blame them, they are wild. It's a (concrete) jungle out there!

I just want to rub the baby swans, not kill them. Just like you want to hold a puppy or kitten. If I could only convey that to Mummy swan.

rob1891

Font22 wrote:

I WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!! they are so cute!!!

Can be arranged. Dead or alive?

hullaballoo

rob1891 wrote:

Can be arranged. Dead or alive?

You just touch one of them. Go on. I dare you. I have a Barrett (.5) trained on anyone who comes within 15m of them.

humbert

Note to self: avoid the lake, actually move quickly and unpredictably in around the whole library area.

rob1891

hullaballoo wrote:

You just touch one of them. Go on. I dare you. I have a Barrett (.5) trained on anyone who comes within 15m of them.

You know why garrath is taking those pictures, right? They'll be on ebay by tomorrow, we have a plan!

Anyone know what happened to the signets last year? They were an interesting distraction from postgraduate summer (still-in-friggin-ucd-sucks-like-hell) life. I guess pappa swan kicked them out of the lake when they got big enough.

The_Minister

hullaballoo wrote:

You just touch one of them. Go on. I dare you. I have a Barrett (.5) trained on anyone who comes within 15m of them.

After what happened in Blackrock park I can't help but agree.

rob1891

Firespinner wrote:

After what happened in Blackrock park I can't help but agree.

what happened?

humbert

Went out for a gander but they've gone all reclusive, very disapointing.

The_Minister

rob1891 wrote:

what happened?

I can't find the link to a report on it but basically some were killed.


Kinda like this *Warning-distressing if you like swans*

Humbert-I hate you. Such puns have no place in civilised society.

elmyra

I can't remember the last time I was down at the lake. Stupid exams

Don't really have a position on swans either way but I am impressed by Hulla's fathering (mothering? ) instinct.

humbert

Firespinner wrote:

Humbert-I hate you. Such puns have no place in civilised society.

It's not my fault I just can't help it, I try, but I fail.

Hermione*

peachypants wrote:

geordie accent

Day three in the UCD lake.

The baby swans are still unaware that they are being watched by procrastinating students of UCD.

The parent swans are looking forward to today's task - seeing how many arms of said UCD student's they can break.

Mammy swan is called to the Diary Island and tells Big Brady that she's worried Daddy swan isn't pulling his weight. /geordie accent

Tune in later for more Big Brady.

Missed this yesterday. Sheer brilliance!

Pet

garrath wrote:

If you thought the last ones were cute, have a look at these:

Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

The cygnet was on the back of one of the swans.

How did you get so close without being attacked? Swans are vicious creatures!

garrath

Pet wrote:

How did you get so close without being attacked? Swans are vicious creatures!

Its really only the male in UCD thats a bit agressive. Have some funny pics of him attacking my shoe. He attacks the other ducks if he's in a bad mood too. I doubt they'd do any real damage though, unless they are carrying bird flu.