Bay Photos by Donna

39 thoughts on “Tundra Swans”

1. Love Swans. We have resident Mute Swans (Orange bill). Like you over winter we too get visitors from Iceland and further north. Our are just a little different. The Whooper Swan has a black and yellow bill, the black being an angular point. The Bewick Swan also has a black and yellow bill, but the yellow area is larger and the black more rounded. They return each winter to our wetland marshy areas…. so far this year not manged a visit to admire. All the same species yet all a little different. 🙂

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   • We have Mute Swans year-round also, and get the occasional rare sighting of a Trumpeter Swan. Ours and yours are all quite similar and all beautiful!! 🙂 I love swans too.

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2. Our smaller flocks of Tundra is probably loving this weather here too 😆. They have been unusually comfortable in the closer marsh ponds this year, which is good for us.

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   • I read that more and more Tundras are now venturing further south into the Carolinas, finding those wonderful marshes. If I go on a winter vacation, I want it to be warmer too! 😉

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     • There has been a group of around 200-300 every year that goes to Bear Island, SC. I think it’s the furthest South they are known to go. Bear roads are closed for 3 months a year giving the Tundras access to about a 20,000 acre wilderness. We have one spot where we can photograph them…if they get close LOL.

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       • Awesome!

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3. Oh, I am so pleased to see them. Thank you!!! Your photographs capture all their glory. Black beaks, white bodies and the surrounding reeds. So beautiful,beautiful!

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   • Thank you, Sandy! So happy you enjoyed them!

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4. Fabulous photos Donna

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5. Beautiful bird, so elegant! (Suzanne)

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   • I am lucky to have them on the river across the street from us, they are too far distance for photos, but I look at them every day with my scope. Today there were 44 swans!

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6. Wonderful!

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   • Thank you, Eliza!

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7. So lovely.

   Gwen.

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   • Thank you, Gwen!

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8. Awesome 👍👍👍

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   • Thank you, Michael!

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     • You’re welcome, Donna.

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9. Such beautiful birds Donna. I love your reflection captures. Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm my friend, as we try to cool down here.

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   • Thank you, Ashley! We’re trying hard to stay warm, I will keep thinking about your hot summer right now to give me some warmth! 🙂

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10. They do look very happy. Such beautiful birds.

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    • They’re in a safe place for the winter so they are all smiles. Thank you, Tom!

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11. They are very beautiful in these photos Donna. I’m sure they’re thinking with disgust “why did we fly all this way for a break and find this?”

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    • Thank you, Linda! Every morning I scope the river across the road from our house and there’s 20-40 swans tucked in a small area of flowing channel waters (river is mostly frozen over). I think they think the same thing!

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      • You sure can’t blame them Donna! I hope YOU are also tucked away somewhere out of the elements. We had sun today – I finally got to the Park after three weeks, but did not take the camera as it was still quite cold. We are back to a wintry mix tonight, then on Friday back to the Deep Freeze for a week with more snow. Ugh!

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12. I’ve always wondered about swans. There are many that spend the winter here close to our home and that has surprised me. I thought they would have gone somewhere warmer.

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    • For the most part, it always seemed they liked our winter bay cold temps, which are much warmer than their arctic home. But now they’re showing up to winter as far south as South Carolina, I read not for the warmer temps but for food. They do destroy the bottom water grasses to the point they leave to find another food area, the counts have dwindled that used to be prime areas to see them around me.

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      • Well, that’s interesting. Following food supplies seems like a good plan.

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        • Me, I like following warm temps, which would be quite nice right now! 😉

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          • Meet you in Arizona? . . . . . Oh, I don’t think I can get there. 😁

          • 😁

13. Beautiful images of these beautiful winter visitors, Donna!

    On Tuesday while birding I saw 4 sleeping in a pond up in Reno. No doubt exhausted from flying in from California’s Pacific Flyway. On Friday I was back up there birding and they were gone! They’re already on their way back up north!

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    • Thank you, Deborah! Ours will stay a few weeks longer, then they’ll be gone too. Happy flying days, swans!

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      • 😁

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14. I’ve never seen Tundra Swans “in real life”. How beautiful! Do they call loudly as they fly across the skies, as Canada Geese do?

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    • No, not really. They really do more of the loud calls and squawking on the ground/fields or water when in flocks, sometimes when taking off. They sound softer at dawn and dusk, even some through the night, more muffled. I used to live where they came to a cove every day/night and used to go out on my balcony and listen to them during the evenings and early morning. It was so beautiful!

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      • Hearing them from your balcony must have been a real gift!

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15. I so enjoy Swans…even the Mutes…as they are so elegant and graceful on the water. Now if we could just get that attitude of those Mutes addressed…

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    • I love swans too! Mutes are year-round in the mid-Atlantic region but I don’t see them often.

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