Can mute swans walk on ice? Apparently not very well…
A few hours after Boston got hit with two feet of snow, I went to Jamaica Pond to see how the birds were doing. While big chunks of the Pond were frozen, there was a large central area free of ice. All the water fowl had congregated near the northwestern shore. I saw Canada geese (Branta canadensis), American coots (Fulica americana), mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), mute swans (Cygnus olor), ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis), and, surprisingly, a pair of pigeons (Columba livia).
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