This afternoon was a nice sunny but not too hot day, so we went as we sometimes do to Broadmoor, a local Audubon Society sanctuary. We always see turtles, sometimes frogs, and earlier this summer had seen the cygnets (baby swans) when they were small grey and fluffy, with their parents standing guard. Saw some ducks and some frogs.

Today Paul got some great pictures, the swans are considered an invasive species and so are not beloved by the Audubon folks. We watched them eat the algae and small plants for a while, then they all lined up to change spots -- it was neat how they just naturally all fell into line!

Papa is in the lead, and the fourth cygnet then mama are just out of the frame:


It's amazing how big they are, but they are still dark grey.

There were a couple very small painted turtles sunning themselves, here's Paul's best shot of one



And the biggest delight was seeing a Great Blue Heron - it was pretty far from us, way out in the middle of the marshy area, so I think this shot came out extremely well ...



And just a few others of it ...