More Trumpeter Swans

Well I finally had a chance to look over a few more of my three hours photographing Trumpeter Swans in the northern Snoqualmie Valley back last month when it was only 14* and sunny outside. A great day, even with numb cold toes!

The light was wonderful to show off these, one of the most beautiful birds on earth. I said thank you to them as I left.

Trumpeter Swans - what are they trumpeting about?

I have hundreds of images of Trumpeter Swans from this week when I spent over three hours photographing a field covered with well over 500 of them just south of Monroe. It might take me awhile to edit over more of them! But this one struck me with a great sense of humor - just what are these rascals honking over here? What does it seem to look like they are saying if they were yakking out loud in our human voices? Have an idea - pass it along to me and help caption this photo!

Another late afternoon swan visitation

Ah, visitation with the annual Trumpeter Swans - but in these cases, I'm the visitor to their wintering grounds. I was taking a brief moment before darkness would cover the Valley to see if increased numbers of these great white flyers were dotting the otherwise pale farm scape of the season. I pulled off a small area north of Carnation on one of my many little roads when I thought I saw two Ring-necked Pheasants across the way in the corn stubble of a summer corn/silage field. Sure enough, to lovely pheasants walking along. Too far off to photograph, but I still gave them a thumbs-up in their efforts to keep from sight of a very close by WDFW land area open for hunting season. Then I heard the sounds of what I would envision as poorly playing middle school trumpet players in the sky above me!

Sure enough, a group of five Trumpeter Swans were coming in to the same field I happened to be scanning for other birds. They circled the field three times, as if to first be waiting for the all clear from the control tower of an airport. By pass #3 I was set up with my gear and photographed them coming in to land. Then more came, two passing by a stunning color of light in the bright western sky as clouds broke before sunset! They all gathered in the field, and the last landing group seemed to be wanting to pick a fight upon landing. But chaos settled down to civil honking and jabbering, and all were happily eating soon together.

I sense this field might be an evening "roost" for the group as it was late in the day. But I intend on continuing to look and learn more about their behaviors at this field! THIS is why I love nature and wildlife photography so much - the ongoing challenges for learning, for understanding the biology behind my subjects is far more exciting that understanding the technology behind taking the photographs. Bring on more challenges from nature, I'm ready!

Trumpeter vs. Tundra Swans

Late yesterday afternoon as it was getting dark I ventured past a few favorite winter locations to check on the current status of the Snoqualmie Valley swan population. I found a nice group of 40-50 Trumpeter Swans in a field halfway between Duvall and Carnation. Nice! But...wait...5 minutes with the binoculars after I photographed a couple of them closer to me revealed a nice surprise: one of the 50 was a Tundra Swan! Alas...how to tell the difference!?!?! It is much easier like this when they are mixed, as the Trumpters are larger. But alone it is a "who know??!!" guess...ah, but not maybe so. I look for my one easier trait to see if they are Trumpeter Swans: a somewhat flat portion on their head heading from the bill up to the top of the head. Tundra Swans are more rounded. There are other things too, like a thicker bill, more black/wider bill, and more deeply black around the eyes. But instead of me trying to explain these things that you can only really "tell" by seeing, one good source is David Sibley and a website page dedicated to this exact mystery! Go here to the Sibley Guide and have fun! Let me know if you see more Tundra Swans around here - they are more common in SW Washington and Eastern Washington in winter, unlike our areas northward on the west side of the Cascades up into B.C. which are almost all Trumpeter Swans.
Fun stuff trying to be a biologist!

(photos: Trumpeter Swan in near dark of sunset --- no, I didn't get the Tundra Swan as it was at least 200' away from me and these were only about 50' away! But I'll keep trying! The swans shown below on Jan 25th from Ridgefield NWR are Tundra Swans, for what it is worth....)

Trumpeter Swans find their food again

Now that that flood waters have move on out to the Puget Sound, field are once again revealed as the prime real estate of The Valley. And, that brings the return of winter feeding grounds to our natural neighbors that visit the area – including the Trumpeter Swans. They seemed “lost” when the floods hit as they were wondering “hey, who buried our food under 10’ of water!!???”. I even saw one flock of 10-12 swans just on the fridge of Fall City along SR 202 swimming about in the flooded valley. No corn fields there, just peacefully wondering where the food was! But now they have returned to their normal areas with water giving way to dirt. They prefer fields of corn, silage corn fields planted in spring for fall chopping up as winter feed for cattle. They get the leftovers all winter in the fields left un-tilled and the WDFW helps too by planting areas in corn each year – stalks left remaining provide shelter for wintering pheasants and also cut fields give food for the growing Trumpeter Swan population in the Snoqualmie Valley (as in the Skagit Valley, Snohomish River Valley, etc…). You can see swans currently near Carnation in a field by Remlinger Farms, up by Carnation Farms Road by the old Nestle Farm area, and far north near Monroe by the confluence of the Snoqualmie and Snohomish Rivers. Enjoy these great birds and let me know what else you see out here this winter! (photo: Trumpeter Swans in an old corn field still partially flooded)

A new idea

Hello from the snowy foothills of the Washington Cascades. Having many people "wish they could hear more" about what I "see" in my photographic planning, and what I'm doing on a regular basis, I hope bringing this addition to my website presence (http://www.alanbauer.com/) will entertain you all. My enjoyment of photography goes much further than just taking photos. Photos to me express what I'm feeling that day, what I find important to my own life not just what I feel I should shoot for my own stock image files! Sometimes I'll be eager to share what I saw on our property while mowing the lawn! Other times I'll enjoy sharing what I learned about something in nature or historically new great stories to me. And yes, I'll share photography and ideas behind how I try things as well. Stay tuned and keep telling me what you are seeing out there! (photo: Trumpeter Swans coming in for a landing over a Snoqualmie Valley field)