Photo Friday: Close Encounter of the Avian Kind

Over the past few weeks, The Boy and I have ventured out in nature. Laden down with cameras, we were hoping to catch signs of spring, in particular the spring migration.

And boy, have we had some incredible encounters with birds. Let me tell you about one of them.

In the middle of May, we went back to The Ptui (our name for it). A.k.a. the Spit, a.k.a. Tommy Thompson Park. You’ve seen pictures of our trip there before (here, here and here, for starters) — it is a gorgeous area and a stop for birds on the spring migration. If you go there before all the trees get leaves, you can see all sorts of things. And we did, but you have things to do and I can’t keep you here for as long as it would take it to tell you about it all.

So. Let’s focus on the swan.

We went to the lighthouse and could actually see it behind the bare-limbed trees. I watched the endless lake and felt the peace that only this much water can bring.

On the way back, I saw a white spot in one of the ponds on the right. I knew this was our friends the trumpeter swans, with whom we have previously visited — the female seems very interested in people. I told The Boy to get closer because I was sure he could get a shot of them over the reeds. They blocked my view, except for the occasional flash of white. He went off the path, into an area that was to rugged and steep for me to go.

“I’m going to hate you,” I said shortly thereafter when both swans came out of the pond and walked right by him. Thankfully, I have a good zoom, so I got some shots, but c’mon, they were Right. By. Him.

At first, he didn’t reply, too busy photographing trumpeter swans. And then… Then he said “not for long.”

The female wandered over to a small worn line in the grass going from the main paved path down to the pond. She looked towards the pond for a moment, then swivelled her head and looked at me.

And turned and walked in my direction.

I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. Well, I probably could have, but I was too busy photographing this white bird walking towards me. This very large white bird.

She stopped close to my feet, looked at me for a while, then continued up on the paved area.

Right next to me!

Photo by DavidG

There was no sense of her defending her territory, of impending attack. None at all. Just the sense of mutual curiosity and even, dare I say it, companionship.

And then she wandered off again, down the path and her mate, who had been standing over to the right keeping an eye on everything, joined her. On the way down, she lunged at a Canada goose, making sure that it knew to get out of her territory, then back in the pond they went.

What a gift.