As you have seen in "Swans at Work," it isn't easy to raise a brood of cygnets, with all the egg laying, incubating, nest repairing and protecting against predators that are involved. But our swan parents have succeeded in hatching six out of seven eggs and getting them into the water with four surviving.

The first series of images in this gallery was taken at Pirie on May 28. The second series (now with 3 cygnets surviving and doing well) was photographed on July 7, when the family "trapped me" on Warden's Watch, as they took over the path while I was on the platform. I managed to sneak by them to escape with only a mild hiss from Dad. Ah, the excitement and danger of wildlife photography! :-)

I wonder how many more "close encounter" photographic opportunities there will be.

See the beginning of the story at: http://www.pbase.com/bioman10/swans