One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by PenelopeK:
Wonderful capture, Paul. Congratulations on the ribbon and a new PB.

One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by photosbyMcDon:
Gorgeous! Love this. One of my top 5! Knew it would ribbon. Congrats!

One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by TDCollins:
I love the tenderness displayed in this photo. Congrats!

One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by SandyP:
This was also one of my favorites! I'm so thankful it won a ribbon! I saw a sheep in this one and thought that was yours, but your ducks are just as wonderful and endearing!

One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by P-A-U-L:

Originally posted by roz: thanks Paul for clearing that up .. it actually made this photo even more special that one white chick .. :) also they might develop at different rates .. and come out grey and go white with time ... ?? so of course i had to google it .. a few minutes later .. here's what i found .. "Newly hatched cygnets are grey. They soon become brown and then, gradually, begin to turn white. The cob takes exception to white birds, other than his mate, on the territory and his own offspring are no exceptions."

These cygnets were born on the day I was there - you can see the remnants of the one of the eggs on the left. I did take some photos of some cygnets I had seen 2 weeks previously when they were born so I will check my photos of those to see how much they have changed in the 2 weeks. I could have spent the whole day there photographing them but I was with my kids and they were very impatient so I was lucky to get some good photos.

One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by roz:

Originally posted by P-A-U-L: Originally posted by roz: so beautiful .. congrats on the red in a challenge that had quite a few 'winners' .. !! .. so what's the go with one white chick and the rest grey .. ?? .. Thank you very much for your wonderful comments (as always) In answer to your question, I think it is just how the light is falling on the chick and also it may be just sticking its head out from the mother. This other photo from the same shoot helps illustrate this

thanks Paul for clearing that up .. it actually made this photo even more special that one white chick .. :)
also they might develop at different rates .. and come out grey and go white with time ... ??

so of course i had to google it ..
a few minutes later .. here's what i found ..
"Newly hatched cygnets are grey. They soon become brown and then, gradually, begin to turn white. The cob takes exception to white birds, other than his mate, on the territory and his own offspring are no exceptions."

One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by P-A-U-L:

Originally posted by roz: so beautiful .. congrats on the red in a challenge that had quite a few 'winners' .. !! .. so what's the go with one white chick and the rest grey .. ?? ..

Thank you very much for your wonderful comments (as always)

In answer to your question, I think it is just how the light is falling on the chick and also it may be just sticking its head out from the mother. This other photo from the same shoot helps illustrate this

One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by roz:
so beautiful ..
congrats on the red in a challenge that had quite a few 'winners' .. !! ..
so what's the go with one white chick and the rest grey .. ?? ..

One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by PapaBob:
Great image, I had this one pegged to win, I gave it a 9 and would have given it a 10 if the third chick would have been facing a little more towards the camera. I love having mom's eyes covered it added a little suspense to the shot.

One day old
by P-A-U-L

Comment by Ja-9:
Excellent capture!!! I need to go check on the mute swans near me...