Swany River

I have recently posted of the unusual visitation of swans to our river, which remains unfrozen as it passes through town. On the first visit, I managed a few distant photos way across the water. But the recalcitrant creatures were AWOL for my second attempt, which is when I presented just scenic shots looking across the river.

We had some nice days on the weekend, and with Sue having been icebound for a few days with a cold, we decided to drive back to the park to enjoy the sunshine and perhaps see the geese.

Lo and behold, they were there, but only a single pair. Once again, however, they were quite distant across the river. This shot was at a full 400mm but still cropped quite a bit. It is actually two photos blended together because I couldn't get both heads up together in a single photo as they kept going under to feed.

Then, I realized that they might be seen from the far bank, for I believed that they might be at the end of a public trail before the land becomes private. Perhaps I could get closer. We drove around to the other side and then hiked along the trail.

Sure enough, we could approach and even get quite close. They weren't too skittery, so I was able to squeeze a few shots before they floated off beyond the park boundary. These photos will prove that I am not a spectacular bird photographer, but they are not too bad for a few minutes worth of work.

Somewhat disappointingly, this was the only photo of the pair in the same frame.

Canada Geese were also present and honking their tiny little heads off. In this photo, the two species pass each other going in opposite directions.

I was able to photograph a few reflections.

By the way, rightly or wrongly, these closer photos allow me to identify them as Trumpeter Swans, but please correct me if I am wrong.

They dove a lot, getting their hind ends in the air. I didn't get any still photos of this, but captured this behaviour in the short video which I will append at the end. However,  here is one with the head in the water.

I like these next two photos with water dripping from the beak after a dive.

Soon, they were floating off beyond my accessible spot, but I like that there is the edge of ice in this photo rather than just water.

I seldom think to capture video, but I did take about 30 seconds of footage, which includes getting the bottom in the air. I think the video lighting is actually better than the still photos. As I previously mentioned, the geese are honking noisily in the background.

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