It's hard to imagine wanting to fly north into the colder environment, but this is exactly what these birds are doing. This is the Tundra Swan migration. Ralph and I thought we would check this out as its has started and will last for a couple of weeks this month. They say that as many as 10,000 to 60,000 swans will fly past on their way to the Arctic to nest in the Tundra. They stay in the Arctic for approximately 102 days where they lay their eggs and raised their young only to take flight again and head south to Chesapeake Bay, Virginia down in the south. It really is an amazing (and somewhat stinky) thing to see. These birds are very similar to the Trumpeter Swans and are often confused with them. We were told however that the Trumpeters were almost extinct back in the 90's but a program has been working on reviving that colony in the north (I believe they said near Midland) and some Trumpeters have also been seen flying with the Tundra swans. It really is quite interesting to listen to all the bird watchers as they know so much and are always willing to share.
Yesterday was bitter cold but we still decided to head out. The temperature was -6c when we left and it didn't warm up much at all during the day. There was a wind blowing constantly making our hands very cold. We often went back into the truck to warm up for periods of time as between the shivering and hair flapping in my eyes, it was nice to get a break from the wind.
While we were there I had mentioned to Ralph that I thought I had seen some cranes. I guess someone had overheard me as I heard them talking later about someone (me I think) saying that they had seen a crane. I was a little embarrassed as I certainly am not a "birder" but the colouring sure looked like a crane. Sure enough while we were there a pair of cranes flew in and joined the swans. I thought that was pretty cool!
