These last two days, Precious is not staying as close to the nest area but swims around the nearby shore of the lagoon; this he evening discovered some sort of plant material that floated to the surface of the water and was madly feasting on it - nothing could have pried him away from his edible treasure! The carp were splashing and leaping out of the water this week, so probably loosened some of the aquatic goodies from the bottom). Gourmet snack-time for swans, and mating-time for the carp - these fish are Mutant-Ninja-sized carp and positively scary as they stir up the water along the shoreline.

This evening, Papa Swan chased the youngsters out of the water for a while, so they went on the hill to do a bit more preening. As the sun dropped closer to the horizon, it cast a warm golden path across the water. Brother and Boy were together, silhouetted in this wonderful light, wings raised, doing their "spinning" routine. Round and round they swam in perfectly synchronized tight circles for 5 or 6 minutes. After a while, they had probably gotten dizzy in trying to establish a winner, so they continued together, across the lagoon, to check out new adventures on the other side.