Family Planning

When we take our grandson home after he visits us on the weekend, we always walk the 3.5 km. On the way, we have to cross an old stone bridge over the Neckar River. There have been swans there for many years. On April 11, we discovered the nest with the mother swan. 



It’s been three weeks now, and she’s still sitting on it whenever we pass by on the weekends. 



Dad Swan makes sure everything is all right.

After laying the last egg, she stays on the nest for 40 days. So we’ll have to be patient a little longer. On Friday, she stood up—she needed to preen her feathers—and that’s when we counted five eggs. We’re thrilled to be part of this event and can’t wait to see how many baby swans will soon be swimming in the Neckar.

Oh Petra, it’s really lovely to watch the swans as they start a family. Thanks for sharing this here. We’ve often witnessed this at Lake Constance. It really is something special to be able to watch the animals go about their business.

Petra, it’s so nice to be able to watch something like this. Last year, we had a redstart on our balcony, and they do say they come back if they felt comfortable there. Just a little while ago, we saw another little bird inspecting the balcony; I’ll have to keep an eye out when I go outside and hope to capture it on camera. Thanks for sharing.

From the balcony, it’s like having a seat in the front row at the movies. It would be absolutely wonderful if he moved in. House redstarts are so fearless. Great!

We recently saw Mom Swan brooding at the Palmengarten.

Oh Marlene, that’s such a beautiful photo. I love swans!

A few years ago, blackbirds nested on our balcony. We even sat there, and they didn’t mind at all. They were so clean that the umbrella we’d set up under the nest didn’t get dirty. It was so sweet to watch it all up close.