Tundra Swan Gallery

A tundra swan flies against a pink sky at sunset at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

The Northwest Welcomes Me Home

I did a lot of traveling in the last few months of 2006 and ended up on the road a lot more than I was at home. Some of it was business travel and some of it personal, including an emotional trip to be with my stepfather at the end of his life. My first day back home I took an hour to go to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge to try to lift my spirits a bit.

The refuge was happy to oblige. The water levels were high and so the waterfowl were scattered far and wide, usually far from the road. Many coots were close by however and actively foraging for plants under the water, so I spent some time watching them as the tundra swans noisily congregated in the distance. A red-tailed hawk came soaring towards the car, and then sunset arrived. Some of the swans took to the skies and I was fortunate enough to photograph some of them against the soft pink of the sky opposite to the setting sun. After the sun set, I observed the first short-eared owl I had ever seen as it captured a vole and carried it off in its talons.

A tundra swan swims at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Elegant

An adult tundra swan swims through shallow water along the auto tour at Ridgefield. You can see the small yellow part at the base of the bill that is one of the defining marks of a tundra swan.

A tundra swan rests at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Valentine's Day Surprise

While swans are commonly seen at Ridgefield during the winter, they usually congregate too far off for full-body portraits, even for such a large bird and even with a telephoto lens. Sometimes you'll get lucky, however, and find a cooperative bird or two. On Valentine's Day in 2003, this swan was resting on a berm that runs between one of the large ponds and a drainage ditch beside the road. It soon settled down for a long winter's nap.

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