![\"trumpeter](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/trumpeter-swan-3671-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a01\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I was inside my camping trailer at 8:13 pm when I looked out the window and saw this swan family swimming by on the lake next to our camp site\u00a0 I slowly opened the trailer door, propped my heavy lens against the door frame and got a few sharp images as they passed to my left\u00a0.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I’d known the adults and some cygnets were in the area because I had seen them before but these are very shy birds and usually stay far off on the very large lake so I had no idea there were this many cygnets.\u00a0 Average clutch size for the species is 5 so to see 6 youngsters raised to this size is encouraging indeed.<\/p>\n The drastic historic decline of Trumpeter Swans beginning during the early fur trade and settlement of North America by Europeans can be attributed\u00a0to the demand for\u00a0their skins, primary feathers and even\u00a0their flesh.\u00a0 Following is a quote from Ed Forbes, a Kalispell, Montana rancher, that illustrates the prevailing attitude of the time: (from birdzilla.com<\/a>, typos corrected)<\/p>\n “I punched cows\u00a0in the Centennial Valley in Beaverhead County from 1883 to 1888. During that\u00a0time I saw quantities of swans, and killed many young birds which we thought good to eat.\u00a0 We used to paddle after them among the\u00a0tulies\u00a0(bulrushes) and rope them, as they never seemed to learn to fly until ice formed around the shores, and were fearless, big, and awkward. Even then it took them a long, flapping flight to clear the water. The young birds would dive, and come up at a distance of 600 feet when chased with a boat.”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But 45 years earlier (1840) John James Audubon described the Trumpeter Swan in such a way as to show that at least some folks in the day had great appreciation for these splendid birds<\/p>\n “For a perfect conception of their beauty and elegance, you must observe them when they are not aware of your proximity, as they glide over the waters of some secluded inland pond. The neck, which at other times is held stiffly upright, moves in graceful curves, now bent forward, now inclined backwards over the body. The head, with an extended scooping movement, dips beneath the water, then with a sudden effort it throws a flood over its back and wings, while the sparkling globules roll off like so many large pearls. The bird then shakes its wings, beats the water, and, as if giddy with delight, shoots away, gliding over and beneath the surface of the stream with surprising agility and grace. Imagine a flock of\u00a0fifty Swans thus sporting before you. I have more than once seen them. And you will feel,\u00a0as I have felt, happier and freer of care than I can describe.”<\/em>\u00a0 —<\/span> J. J. Audubon<\/p>\n Thankfully, Audubon’s sentiment prevails today.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trumpeter Swans are the largest of all North American waterfowl, weighing up to 30 pounds and having a wingspan of as much as 8 feet. It’s hard to imagine that by the 1930’s this species had been almost wiped out. In 1949 the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that the Trumpeter Swan was “the fourth rarest bird now remaining in America”. But thankfully recent intense swan restoration and management programs have brought the species back from the brink of extinction.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n