2. Daily Photos

Lady Kate's Journal 2011

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My purpose with this gallery, is to continue on with this project as a form of personal journal. I won't be posting on a daily basis; my intent is to journal more of the
major events, adventures, people and creativities as they perk my life!
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    January 29 It's been a busy week ;-) Let's go back to this last Monday--(my previous DP), and now the rest of 'the release back to the lake of our Lady Swan' story: After the first time this juvenile male let his affections be known to our Lady, she fled, out of the lake, then back in again, hiding in the reeds for at least 1/2 hr. In the meantime the male had gotten tired of waiting and went for a little paddle not far from us to our left. Soon thereafter she slipped back into the water and stayed to our right. Seperate the swan photos down the verticle-middle of the collage: male on the left, Lady on the right Even though they could see each other, they stayed in those perspective areas and started VERY actively taking baths!! This went on for @15 minutes. Then, again in their perspective areas, they each went ashore and started preening. LOL! the male kept at it for 1hr 15 min.! She preened for @ 15 minutes and was back in the water floating--with her wings in the beautiful position (bottom right)-- in between her area and where he was (still) preening--and NOT giving her the time of day! When he went back into the water, he started heading towards her and she fled in the other direction, climbing out of the lake and onto the road. He stayed in the water, waiting for her By now, everyone else but me had left and of course I'm still taking photos ;-) And I am SO glad I was, because now it's me and the Lady, with her walking in the road. In the above photo she's walking towards a curve that's behind me and to the right. So I look back to see a car coming---there's barely a chance they will be able to stop soon enough to not hit her. So, now I'm in the middle of the road stopping cars in both directions, and making them take turns to slowly drive around her, while she is still walking in the road in order to stay away from the male who is still in the lake!! Yeah----I know!! It WAS a funny scene! But----she was safe ;-) Finally, the woman who is the 'un-official tender of the birds at the Lake', looked outside and came to help! She ushered the Lady back over to the water; the male had gone to another area by now . I took this as my chance to leave! I went to the lake the next morning, and even though other people told me they had seen the male chase her a couple of times, I found her out of the lake and trying to keep away from him. She was looking pretty good and was eating, which is still her condition as of this afternoon. I called the 'Bird Tending woman', asking for a report before I posted this. YAY-----so far, so good!! Except that no one has seen anything yet of her mate ;-( ********************************************************* FYI: There is a plan for a S'Mugger get-together!! Saturday, Feb. 5, downtown San Jose, CA ! We're meeting for breakfast at 9:30, and from there it will be interesting to see what we do !! So far, participants include me, BillieJean, Colleen Griffith, and Warrenfam. You're all invited!! Let us know, and we'll save you a seat ;-)
    January 24 Yes...the Lady Swan was released today!! (top right) The juvenile male (not her mate---top left) really liked the idea! ALOT!!!! (bottom) Suffice it to say she did well. She immediately started cruising and eating, then from across the lake, the male spotted her! He was in a hurry to come visit, but I think he had some ideas, which she wasn't going for ;-) Bummer is two-fold: he is not her mate, and she isn't strong enough yet for extra-cirricular activities. We're all hoping she does OK through the night; curiosity might get me over there in the morning. There's more to the story but time isn't allowing that right now, nor has it allowed me to look trough the dailies and make any comments. I do thank you for your comments and interest in this story. My plan is to do another collage (hopefully tomorrow) with the rest of the story accompanying the photos. ****************************************************** January 25: this morning I was sent a link to : a video of the release
    January 23 Updates on the Lady Swan (from Pacific Wildlife Care) : 1/15/11: Her blood lead level has dropped to 18.8, so we've stopped the chelation therapy for now. She has been moved to a home rehabilitator's property, where she has lots of soft earth and a pond and other ducks & geese to hang out with. She started eating grass and grains within 15 minutes of coming out of her crate! She's standing more, and preening. 1/18/11: A little muddy section of the yard was created by running the hose in one area where very little grass is growing. It created a swamp which she happily dug into. Tonight, for the first time, she is in the pool floating with her head resting on her back. She is now standing more and hissing when approached. We're encouraged." 1/23/11: It's been decided to release the Lady Swan tomorrow, Monday Jan. 24, between noon and 1pm. Weighing the risks of keeping her any longer in captivity, we've come to the difficult decision that this is her best chance for survival. We feel at this point that extending her stay in captivity could be detrimental to her. Let's wish her the best of luck. Update from me: Since I last posted about the Swan, I've learned that the male swan (which I've been hand feeding and photographing, while telling him that his sweetheart WOULD be coming back) IS NOT her mate. This one is a younger, domesticated male that had been dropped off at the lake almost 2 yrs. ago. Apparently this younger male has been the 'outcast', with the partner of our Lady Swan not ever allowing him near to the 'couple'. As for her mate, on Tuesday, Jan. 11 he flew away from the lake, and has not been seen since ;-( The migrating habits of the 'couple' was to leave Atascadero Lake, mid to late January, and fly to another local water habitat. It's been suggested that the 'couple' might be in communication, and the hopes are that he will return soon for her. ********************************************** Pacific Wildlife Care called me tonight to let me know of their plans to release our Lady Swan tomorrow. In a previous conversation with PWC, they had invited me to be there to photograph the release, promising to let me know when this event would happen. So tomorrow is the day, and I WILL be there! This image was taken a while ago, and is, in fact, 'the couple'!