“Swan-athlon?” “Swan-alympics?” “Swan luge?” Ok, none of that makes sense. (Although, ‘Swan luge’ is pretty good…) What does make sense is how amazing Swans are, e.g., here in Erie, Pennsylvania recently, plenty of Tundra Swans!
There’s lots of amazing stuff in the “world of birds.” One example, Puffins off the coast of Scotland. Or Puffins off the coast of anywhere else for that matter. But what surely falls into that category (i.e., of amazing bird stuff) is a large flock of Tundra Swans seemingly materialize out of nowhere from the white, winter sky for a landing on Thompson Bay at Presque Isle State Park. Truly a sight to behold.
The content here doesn’t do it justice, but it’s a website and that’s what we do…
These are all on Thompson Bay, taken from the west-side beach by Access Trails #1 and 2 and therebetween.
Following two shots looking almost due north, towards Lake Erie (ice dunes in background right):
Remaining shots looking generally east towards the Gull Point area:
Again, doesn’t do it justice, but here’s a clipped shot of a flock of Tundra Swans coming in for a landing:
Time for a BirdingPI.com “bird ID” moment. Tundra Swans and Trumpeter Swans look very similar, and the territory technically overlaps at Presque Isle State Park; although only slightly on the eastern side of the latter’s range.
Here’s a great summary of how to tell the difference: https://finwr.org/which-swan-is-which/.
In the picture below – an enlargement from these shots – the bird on the left has an almost straight line of black between its eyes. This is indicative of a Tundra Swan, whereas a Trumpeter Swan would have a notched/indented line of dark coloration instead. Also, on the bird on the right, there’s a yellow spot just to the left of the eye, and the eye is fairly distinct (i.e., mostly surrounded by white feathers). Both traits are characteristic of Tundra Swans.
In the following cropped view, the bird on the bottom has a partially pink-colored bill. This is indicative of a juvenile Tundra Swan.
Back to more swans landing:
A couple groups of Tundra Swans landing was amazing enough. Almost as amazing was watching the newly-landed swans intermingle with those already on the ice. Perhaps it’s foolish to characterize it as a happy reunion, but that’s how it seemed – certainly, they were all very interested and animated for the get-together. Is there such a thing as swan joy? Maybe not, but hopefully so.
Finally for this installment, bad swan video:
Stay tuned for Swan-a-thon Part 2!