Tundra Swans



Tundra Swans enjoying a swim at Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, Horicon, Wisconsin; 10/16/10.

 We decided to drive a three mile Nature Loop that was at the northern end of the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge to see what we could see. At our very first pull out, there was an overlook with a view of a small section of the marsh where there were several dozen waterfowl swimming. Among these were three beatiful Swans, which I at first thought were Trumpeter Swans, but turned out to be Tundra Swans- what luck! I have never seen a Tundra Swan before. They were undoubtedly taking a rest stop in the Marsh while migrating from their summer home in the Arctic Circle - the Northern reaches of Alaska and Canada - to their winter homes on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Tundra Swans will grow to about 52" tall with a wingspan of five and a half feet.  As more people stopped to see what we were looking at, the Swans must have sensed too many humans around and suddenly took to flight. Val photographed them on their take off. See the link below to her Photo blog for 10/18/10:
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And I took several shots of them in flight (See below) as they cicled over head and out of sight. We were fortunate enough to get there before they flew away.


Tundra Swans in flight, Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, Horicon, Wisconsin; 10/16/10.