February 9, 2014

Visiting Swans


One morning in mid-December I looked out the window at the lake, expecting to see the usual geese and perhaps a few ducks. Large white birds were there in profusion, but they were tall… oh, those aren't geese! Swans! A large flock of swans had flown in and were gliding around like they owned the lake!


I grabbed a camera and took a few pictures from the window. Then I put on my coat and went outside to get some closer shots. I used the zoom, which not only gives some nice pictures but also helps my eye to see things in greater detail as I look through the viewfinder. (Yes, I always buy a camera that has a viewfinder! It shows me the scene better than a screen does and also helps me keep the camera steady as I hold it against my face.)

Now I've seen swans in Virginia before, particularly near Montross and on Silver Lake in Dayton. But we hadn't seen them here before. I took dozens of pictures and posted a couple on Facebook that same day on our neighborhood's page.

While I was out there, a couple of trucks stopped on the other side of the lake and I heard two men talking. One said that the swans flew in during the night. I remembered hearing a great squawking late at night, like geese honking in great alarm. That must have been when the swans landed.

Now the geese were keeping their distance from these larger birds. I believe these are tundra swans.

I took dozens of pictures, so many that I had trouble deciding which ones to share here on this blog. So I procrastinated. But I finally went through them yesterday and selected some favorites.




14 comments:

  1. just beautiful, linda! the flag and the reflection of it add a nice bit of color to those shots. :)

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  2. Wonderful pictures. We see the Tundra's on the Mississippi in November as they stop and rest on their way from the Artic to Chesapeake Bay and south....:)

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  3. Wow, it's so cool that you got to see them. I would have been taking tons of pictures too. You got some really lovely shots.

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  4. Magnificent!

    We have swans that are in winter quarters here at the moment, but set out on the Rideau River during the summer.

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  5. Beautiful swans! Hope you like the pix of Skyline Drive I posted tonight.

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  6. So cool! They are incredible and I've never seen them show up at our nearby pond. What majestic creatures & captures.

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  7. Amazing photographs, to the Spring flair.

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  8. Beautiful swans and great shots ~ carol and artmusedog www.acreativeharbor.com

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  9. Lovely photos of the swans! I have seen quite a few mute swans and trumpeter swans lately but NO tundra swans. Lucky you!

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  10. Great pictures. And so fun that you got swans. I want a pond!

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  11. Yes, really pretty swans in that beautiful lake, nice photos!

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  12. Beautiful photos and reflections!

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  13. What a beautiful set of images from a nice place.

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