Christmas Wishes Granted (Cygnet 2012 Final Update)

I’ve wondered why I hadn’t seen the Galway cygnets in a while and on Christmas Eve Day, I discovered why – they’ve grown up!

Only by chance did I see one as it waddled after a child spreading bits of bread near the Claddagh Hall.  The swan/cygnet was taller than the child who kept moving away and hiding behind his mother to escape the hungry stalker.  You have to look closely at the tail feathers to see the small bits of grey – the last vestiges of childhood.  The rest is snowy white and the beak vibrant orange.

Ten days ago I was in Dublin and checked on their cygnets. Slightly younger, it seems, they still have mottled feathers.  When I saw them in late November I wrote about their Christmas wish – at least one will be granted their orange beak.  With the large number of people around St. Stephen’s Green, they are quite domesticated – even eating out of the hand of what appeared to be a regular patron.

As the year comes to a close, so does this edition of Cygnet updates.  Maybe we’ll have a new crop to follow in spring.

May you hall have a Happy Christmas and I hope many of your wishes have come true, as well.

(P.S. – My apologies that the photos didn’t show up in the original post.  WordPress has updated the software making it more challenging to insert photos.)

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