I drive over the bridge that spans the St. Louis River at Fond du Lac nearly every day…And the scene is rarely the same. And this day was no exception. With temps in the 60s and even 70s recently, the snow has melted and the river is opening up. And when the river opens up, the migrant birds appear instantly. Often my first spring Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Flicker, Common Merganser, Hooded Merganser, and Trumpeter Swans are seen/heard from the bridge. On this day, dense fogs created a dreamscape of gray and white. The silhouetted trees and islands really make the shot. I like the shape of the sweeping horizontal limbs on the right. It took many shots to get both Trumpeter Swans with their heads up since they feed almost constantly, heads submerged. I also like the 3 Canada Geese just loafing on the “iceberg.” I tweaked the color balance to the blue side to add a bit of a feeling of winter turning to spring. Moody!
[Note: This image looks better the larger it is, so click on it once to see a larger image, then click again to see it at its max size.]
Canon 7D, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens, tripod
3 responses to “Monochrome Swans”
Pauline Wahlquist
March 19th, 2012 at 09:04
Beautiful picture.
Ann Pellant
March 26th, 2012 at 10:00
There were HUNDREDS of swans just out in the distance off of that bridge near the opposite shore and flying overhead on Saturday near Morgan Park. Are these Trumpeter or Tundra swans?
Sparky Stensaas
March 27th, 2012 at 15:04
Hi Ann, Very cool sighting. I never get tired of the sound and sight of swan flocks flying overhead. These are Trumpeters…but when you see hundreds during migration, then they are Tundras. The St. Louis is a major stopover for Tundra Swans winging it back to the arctic nesting grounds…the Tundra!