Sharon had meant for some time to get us all up to this interesting little "park" area in Monticello. It's about four miles downstream of a power plant, where the river never freezes over (erg...that park kind of freaks me out), that a resident began feeding a breeding pair or two of trumpeter swans (the enormous, six-foot from beak to end of feet all white kind). They came back for more and brought friends, as well as all their cousins (Canada geese, mallards, goldeneyes, coots, and mergansers) until the regular flock grew to hundreds (up to 900 swans frequent the place according to a recent DNR count). Of course, the cost of food & so on got completely out of control; I guess she gets an enormous grant to keep it up, and now puts the food on a conveyor belt to cart it out to the banks of the river. Not sure how the racket sits with the neighbors, but the city of Monticello has turned the place into a little public access point to the river with an observation deck. A multitude of camera toting folks were there alongside us. My camera was put to shame, but I got a few shots that could pass for chronologically following some swans through their flight in, landing, feeding, and display.
I think these birds are the largest in North America, outside of the condor. For more information on this place and these amazing creatures, check out the
brochure. Most interesting fact, I thought: they weight between 20-30 lbs. That's 4-6 times the weight of a large Great Horned Owl. Crimney, how do they get into the air using only feathers?!
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11 comments:
Over how many years has this explosion occured? The brochure just said 'several'. Seems wild that the original pair 'brought' friends. That would seem to imply a level of communication way beyond the usual instincts of birds.
I sort of imagine them on the way back to the swan park getting spotted by some other swans. 'Hey! Where are you going?" Then getting followed despite their best efforts to keep it to themselves.
I'm no waterfowl expert, but there's an amazing amount of things related to migration/winter habitat that may be beyond any human on this earth to currently explain.
How can the simple existence of an unnatural open patch of water cause this tens-of-thousands of year instinct to just up and go away? Yet there it happens, in the vicinity of power plants around the temperate world?
Geese all fly in a v-shaped formation when flying, so as to lower wind-resistance. They also take turns being the leader, because that wears you out the most. Doesn't that also indicate some high level of communication that is beyond instinct?
I don't think the idea of other birds seeing what's going on and following/coming to find out seems out of the ordinary at all. In fact, that's exactly what happens in the backyard of anyone who's got a bird feeder.
By the way, you know how big a Canada goose is, right? Do you see how big these swans are next to the geese? Jesus, but they're big birds.
On the geese flying in a V formation, one side is always longer than the other. Know why?
Wait for it
more geese.
I thought it was going to be related to why one ball hangs lower, but even with one leg of the V being longer, it would still be really difficult to get more than one goose down your pants.
Nice.
I'll ask the expert if she knows.
Birds that fly have huge air spaces in their bones, and the are very light compared to the thrust that they get from their wings.
I AM NOT AN IDIOT.
I know that birds generally have hollow bones. My point was that 30 lbs is some pretty goddamned heavy hollow bones, especially as compared to birds we think of as being big, such as a great horned owl (5 lbs) or a bald eagle (12 lbs).
What? You are not an idiot? :) You took some great photographs Dan. They fly in a V shape so that they can benefit from the lack of drag that is produced by the bird infront of it. The poor bastard in the front has to do all of the work.
By the way I did read the entire post but I wanted to restate that info about the V, plus I thought that you might have forgotten the info after your read it. :) Just kidding. You are a very smart and wise man!
You probably know more about birds than I do, but I've got the basics down and my birding skills are increasing slooooowly through the long years.
Thanks for the compliment on the photographs, though it was tough to get a bad shot. It was a lot of motherfucking waterfowl.
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