Monday evening, September 23,
2013 Trumpeter Swan Family
As the wintry clouds cleared
away on Monday evening, I just had to check on the TRUMPETER SWAN family who
were, until recently, residents of the Mile 15 wetlands. After walking south 1
½ miles in the ditch along the highway, they were reported to have relocated in
a long, narrow wetlands on the west side of the highway.
I drove the long 15 miles,
marveling at the beauty of the brilliant white mountains spotlighted by the low
sun. I parked at the pullout opposite the Grayling Lake trailhead at Mile 13.5
and walked a short ways south.
At first, I just saw a pair
of white adults and one light gray cygnet, busily feeding in the numerous pond
lilies. The cygnet looked almost as big as the adults. I wondered if this was
THE family, or another swan family. Then I looked farther down the pond and saw
three other gray cygnets, almost camouflaged, feeding independently. Yea! The
whole swan family was here and doing well.
Like the dipping bird toy,
the swans rhythmically tipped down, then up, down, and up, and down, rummaging
around in the water lilies and other vegetation. The watchful adults seemed to
take turns, discreetly checking on their babies and surroundings before
leisurely tipping over again. It was almost hypnotic, watching all six swans
feeding according to their individual breathing cycles.
After a time, the regal
adults decided to move to the end of the pond. Without a sound, one adult
simply bobbed its head a few times, and the whole family gathered together and
paddled away. The four cygnets looked very healthy and should soon be ready for
the big migration.
Also spotted at the pond, a
SCAUP that made little disapproving grunts and paddled off into the pond lilies
and an AMERICAN WIGEON that eagerly snapped up tasty morsels floating past the
swans.
It has been such a pleasure
to watch this majestic family from the mid-May nest building, through
incubation, to the hatching and subsequent growth of all four babies throughout
the summer. What extraordinary parents!
Later that evening, I watched
the moon rise and pose on the top of the dark silhouette of Mt Alice, a large
slice cut off its upper right side, already waning. High overhead, the
constellation Cygnus the Swan, flew eternally on the Milky Way, its long neck
stretching to the southwest.
Throughout the winter, Cygnus
will remind me of the Mile 15 Trumpeter Swan family, and I will wish them well,
wherever they are.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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