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Penny and Duke are back together after Duke had another 4 days alone up river.
This was fortunate, for he missed much of the sewer rainfall run off into the lower river last week. He is in full moult right now, and this may make him slightly off colour at this time. They look well enough.
The end of this week will see the cygnets 3 months old, growing fast, and almost the size of their parents ! The final phase of their growth is the full development of their wings, ready for flying lessons next month.
Penny will be able to fly again shortly after this years moult, Popeye has now started losing all his flight feathers and will be flightless for the next 6 weeks.
Penny is in full moult and will be unable to fly for another month, she always moults first at this time, while Popeye is still able to fly until penny regrows her flight feathers. This is nature's way of ensuring that one of them can always fly to defend the cygnets. At a glance you would not realise that Penny cant fly, nature has again provided an excellent deception technique. Penny retains the outer wing feathers giving the illusion that she has all her wing feathers, in reality these are only a cover while all her new feathers are sprouting from underneath! Compare the flared wings of Popeye and Penny and you will see that his are nearly touching.
