In Search of the Swans

My friend Ashley called me up to give me the tip that her mom had seen some Trumpeter Swans on Sauvie's Island that day. She knows how much Mason loves birds and thought we would want to know.... We did! Ever since he read the book, The Trumpet of the Swan he has loved them. He and Kaiah bought webkins (stuffed animal) swans with their own money and named them Louis and Serena, made tiny chalkboards with a bag holding chalk and money to put around their necks, and Mason designed a trumpet out of a toilet paper tube (painted yellow). So he was super excited to try to find a real one!

The day turned out to be beautifully sunny and not too cold, so we set out after school and naps around 3:00 in search of the elusive bird. We had rough information about what roads to turn on, so we ended up just driving around and looking... how big could the island be? :) We did not find the area she had described... we hit many dead ends. But with each wrong turn we found other really fun birds! At the first dead end we found an eagle high in a tree... but with the zoom lens, it looked pretty close.

On the way to our next try, right off the road, there was this gorgeous hawk (Red Tailed I think)...

Then when we were on our way back from another dead end, we found some Sandhill cranes and many, many different kinds of ducks. It's breeding season for the cranes and they were pretty noisy. We knew about this from Ash's mom who had come with the Audubon society the day before.

Then, back down one of the same roads we already traveled... only a little further this time, we stopped to use a porta potty and look at a zillion Canadian geese.

The kids were happy to stretch their legs and run!



Heading back out to the main road, we ran into this flighty little Kestrel. Mason and I love these little guys! I pulled over in the middle of the road because there were no cars or people the whole time we were exploring! He just watched me as I got closer and closer, flipped his tail up and down and then eventually took off when he felt threatened.



We retraced our steps and started to drive around by the other side of the island and saw a couple of bald eagles, some cormorants and a few more Kestrels. Then finally! I saw the place Ash's mom described... a lookout over a huge plain that contained marshy swamp lands irresistible to our feathery friends :) Before we could look for the Swans, I saw a Northern Harrier gliding around looking for prey.

We looked for a few minutes. Things were so far away and we weren't allowed to try to walk closer. Plus I just got my cast off and have to wear this soft brace for a while, so I was in no shape to go mucking around in the dirt with a weak ankle, a toddler and camera equipment...

We heard a lot of Sandhill cranes mating and saw a lot of flittering in the setting sun's rays.

But then we looked off to the left and found a huge flock of white birds! They were so hard to see, we couldn't tell if they had black beaks or not, so I just took a bunch of pics hoping a few would turn out and we might be able to identify them later on.

After a few minutes we heard a huge crowd of honking and watched as the flock of hundreds, maybe thousands rose into the air. Something must have spooked them. They flew around for a while before settling back down again.

Then right as the sun was setting the flock made a huge ruckus and took to the sky. It was so amazing! I couldn't capture the whole thing in one camera view. They were so gorgeous! They also flew a little closer so we could see them a bit better.



We realized when they got closer that they weren't Trumpeter swans. These birds (we later identified as Snow geese) had black tips on their wings and Trumpeter swans have all white bodies with black beaks and feet.


The show was so spectacular that Mason wasn't too disappointed. Here he is with Louis.


As you can see the kids had fun. We saw a ton of really great wildlife. It was all free (except the gas from driving around the whole island!) And we were able to see an absolutely amazing sunset.


The kids and I were reading from the Jesus Storybook Bible today and one phrase made me think of our experience yesterday:

"God wrote, "I love you" - he wrote it in the sky, and on the earth, and under the sea. He wrote his message everywhere! Because God created everything in his world to reflect him like a mirror - to show us what he is like, to help us know him, to make our hearts sing."

My heart sang yesterday enjoying His creation... even though we didn't find the swans. :)