Morning Mug: Swanee, How I Love Ya


by on Aug 1st, 2012

Photo by  Mariya Giggles

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  • nolastname

    An evening stroll along the bay makes for great pics. Well done Mariya.

    • JoeyStalin

      Yep, the “Floaters” usually come in with the tide. The nice hispanic lads begin toking on their funny cigarettes and relieving themselves on the trees. Then come the nice Eastern Europeans who turn the Bay into their ghetto, snorting lines of coke off of their Mercedes Benz dashboards while arguing and hitting their morally challenged girlfriends. It truly is “picturesque”. 

      • http://www.flickr.com/knightmare6 Knightmare6

        You paint quite the lovely picture…

      • nolastname

        Pictures or it didn’t happen. I’m sorry but this is not my experience you speak of. 
        When I walk the bay area it’s all good. But thanks for sharing.

  • Kool4Coney

    where did the swans come from??  there were NO swans in the bay when I was a kid, a teen, a young adult etc and then a few years ago they just kind of appeared….  a few of them and NOW there are so many of them…  where did they come from?

    • Barkingspider07

      The swans have been in the bay for years.  When my nephews were young (they are all grown men now), we used to stop at Dunkin Donuts on Emmons, buy a half dozen and go to feed the swans.  They loved to dothat.  I also did this with my niece when she was little (she is in college now).  So, I don’t know where they came from, but they have been living here for many years now.

      • Kool4Coney

        also interesting…  maybe they were there when I was younger but I mistook them for seagulls????   I  just sent an email to someone who knows the parks department person in charge of the water area of the bay to ask if they know.   will post the response IF i get one  :)

        I am kind of thinking, now, that they might have come from the Jamaica bay bird sanctuary at gateway national park and migrated to our bay because the food was plentiful, the predators few and the waters calm.  

        • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

           I seem to recall that at one time there was nothing save some hardy goldfish alive in the Bay. Seagulls nested near, but never over the Bay itself.

          • http://www.flickr.com/knightmare6 Knightmare6

             Goldfish (Crucian Carp) cannot survive in saltwater, probably some orange minnows that escaped from someone’s bait bucket or off the hook.

          • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

             Sheepshead Bay in the 60s was so polluted that bait fish probably were the only sealife.

          • http://www.flickr.com/knightmare6 Knightmare6

            Heh, and only because some minnows can get air from the surface in polluted waters

    • nolastname

      They originally were brought in by a family in Gerritsen Beach. About 20 years ago (or more) there were only 2 and they nested in the beach.

      • http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/ Ned Berke

        That’s not the story I’ve heard. I’m told they’ve been here for more than 100 years, though their population dwindled for a while. They’re European and were brought to our area to decorate small ponds and such at the homes of Sheepshead Bay and Gravesend’s elite. As the area developed and the demographics changed, they escaped and made their home in the Bay, where they thrive because of the calm waters the Bay provides.

        By the way – be thankful we have them. Swans are territorial, and compete with geese for turf. Having them here keeps the geese – and their fecal matter – out. Or so I’m told. I’m a reporter, not a historian or wildlife specialist…

        • Kool4Coney

          huh  interesting….  my family used to walk along the docks after a meal at Lundy’s when I was a kid.. we used to stop to watch the people who were diving for coins (my dad did that when HE was a kid) and I don’t ever remember seeing a single swan…. and my boyfriend, when I was a teen, had a brother in law who moored his
          fishing boat at the (now gone) moorings at the holocaust Park end of the
          bay and when I went out on that boat i dont remember seeing the swans
          either.   I wonder if there is a way to find out about this…   would make for an interesting read (hint hint NED)

          • ShadowLock

             well offcourse there is a way.

            ask the swan…………..Duhhhh!

          • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

             Swans are terrible oral historians. They exaggerate greatly.

          • nolastname

            There were no swans 45 years ago when I was diving off the bridge. They just needed more room.

        • nolastname

          Sounds like a fact. They had to be brought in from somewhere. 
          I seem to have found them in Gerritsen when there were less than a dozen in the whole area. Like I said it was 20 years ago or more. They have not always been in Sheepshead Bay but needed more territory. 

  • BorschtTide

    A closer look reveals they are actually a senior citizen Russian swimming group, known as the “Grey Goosers.”

    Their outstretched necks act as a divining rod of sorts, with the unique ability to sense & guide them towards the nearest public assistance center, where their freebies await, stuffing themselves like suicidal geese who’s only wish is to become the foi gras version of government cheese. Yummy!