Swans!

Today, 10 days later than last year,

and heard, before we saw them..... (water levels dropped slightly over night)

the first swans of the season, and typical of the past few years, they were Tundra Swans.  A family of 6, 4 youngsters and 2 adults....only 1 adult in this photo, the last 'whole' bird in the photo.  Note the tiny speck of yellow at the base of the bill although didn't need to see that as the calls of the Tundra Swan are completely different from those of the Trumpeter.

could tell there were more out there....here is the scene beside Morris Valley Road....water levels close to summer levels...

more swans here....judging from the colour of the bills these youngsters at least are also Tundra.  Quite the collection of ducks out there too....must try and do an actual count soon, they'll be in the hundreds.

here is another look.  In total there were 22 swans visible in the area.