Skating Ducks

I was reluctant to walk through the sleetish snow this afternoon, but I had to post a parcel at Dunkirk post offiice. On my walk down there, I curbed the path that leads from the Trent Building to the Lakeside area of campus where I discovered that birds had taken to the ice. They were expectant of food and all the things that I could not offer them, but were not quite so expectant as the swan pictured to the right of this blog. I include an additional photograph today to portray the hunger of the birds in this cold, icy winter. The small pond opposite the Arts Centre was completely frozen over, and this bird took to petitioning passers-by for food. This photograph makes the swan seem austere, but he was like a beggar on a pavement, asking me to spare a few crumbs. Through his best swan chirp, he was trying to tell me that he was cold and hoped I would lift out something edible (rather than technological) from my bag: he did not flinch as I took this picture. Usually photographing birds from within a small range is next to impossible: they fly off scared or preoccupied, but not today as temperatures plummetted and the lakes froze.