Wild Fidalgo

Actually, it was more like seventy swans relaxing yesterday along Best Road in Skagit County, Washington.  I had the 100-400 mm lens mounted on the camera.  From where I stood, this forty or so was all I could fit in the frame at 100 mm.  I spotted this group of Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) while heading home after hiking on Fir Island. Our mornings have been chilly since New Year's, with mostly sunny skies.  It was only about 26° F (-2° C) at the time of these photos.  That's frost on the grass adding a silvery tinge. Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus) also visit this area in the winter.  If you get a close look, the two species are easy to tell apart.  The crown of the head on Trumpeters is flattened with the plane parallel to the beak.  On Tundra Swans, the crown is more dome shaped.  Tundras usually also have a spot of orange or yellow on the beak near the eye. The grayish birds are juveniles.  They will turn wh...

There have been some events since the previous post (about the eagle).  The brand new Canon 100-400L II lens I received just before Christmas turned out to be defective.  I returned it and received the replacement lens yesterday.  Today I took it our for a shake-down cruise and hit the wildlife jackpot. I was hiking along the East Cranberry Lake Trail in Deception Pass State Park.  It skirts the shoreline between West Beach and the East Cran picnic grounds.  In a lagoon next to the trail, I spotted this Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator)  just quietly floating there alone. If you're familiar with the park, you will recall the marshy island with the trees at the edge of the lake.  The swan was near the trail just inside this island.  I fully expected the bird to bolt at my approach, but it didn't.  Instead, it remained very still allowing me to take some photos.  Then, very slowly, it began to glide smoothly past the island an...

Trumpeter and Tundra Swans spend winters in the fields of the Skagit Valley of Washington State.  They have become one of the iconic images of winter here.  Just over a year ago, I posted photos of Trumpeters shot from the same spot.  This year, the birds were farther from the road, but the group was much larger.  The first task was to figure out if these were Trumpeters again or Tundra Swans.  For that I severely cropped a photo to get a closeup view: A flat crown of the head sloping evenly with a straight bill, and the lack of a yellow spot in front of the eye reveals these to be Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) once again. The fields last year were grass covered.  This year they are muddy and bare.  We had a bit of drought during the summer and fall before the rains came with a vengeance.  This may explain the difference. In the adjacent field just north of this group, there were two more larger gatherings.  I estimate...

During the winter, gatherings of Trumpeter Swans ( Cygnus buccinator ) are a fairly common sight in the fields along the roads in Skagit and Whatcom counties of Washington State.  It is even possible to catch sight of them along Interstate 5 foraging on plant material and invertebrates.  These are truly impressive birds and graceful in their movements.  Trumpeters are North America's largest native waterfowl, and among the heaviest of all flying birds, according to Birdweb . As of 1900, they were thought to be extinct .  By 1930, small populations were discovered in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming but fewer than 100 birds remained south of Canada.  Then in the 1950's a large population was discovered in Alaska.  Because of protection, habitat preservation and reintroduction they have made a comeback. Seasonally, they are now found in greater numbers in Washington than anywhere else in the lower 48 states.  The North American population is estimat...