marcus could learn a thing or two from this swan*

we took a trip to the duck pond today.** there were ducks, geese, swans and seagulls. swans are incredibly fierce and protective animals and today there were 2 adult swans and 5 or 6 cignets (one of which had a birth defect and one of its legs was located on top of its back - it only had 2 legs though).

anyway, we were tossing bread to them all the while micah giving the play-by-play. "here, daddy ducky, here's you bread." "look, mommy, he's eatin it." blah, blah, blah, on and on forever...

at one point, even though i hate the vile creatures, i tossed a few pieces directly to a seagull. but as he went to eat it, a swan shot him a look of death and the seagull flew off leaving the bread for the male swan.

about 5 minutes later, we hear this freakish scream-like bird call and look up to see the male swan, wings out wide and flapping, tearing through the water toward the 3 seagulls about 20 feet away. he was on top of them instantly, whapping one of them with his wings and pecking it. lo and behold, as the swan backed away, we could see the body of one of the seagulls overturned in the water.

okay... time to go...

* the title is a reference (and a link) to "about a boy" when the young boy, marcus, throws the entire loaf of bread his mother made at a duck and killed it.

**and of course, i forgot my camera. would have loved to get a shot of that swan. "today, on the nature channel, when animals attack. duhn-dunh-DUHN"