A Wisconsin Swan Song

If we were surprised by the brown Sandhills, we were astounded to come across the pair of trumpeter swans with their chicks way out in a pond that we drove past. You see them out there in the pond, don't you? It's the white speck in the middle!

To take the pictures, we pulled out the tripod.

The adults were standing on one leg each and were taking turns resting with their heads down. (Parenting can be exhausting!)

And then they both rested.

I think this is the funniest pose. It is like a pushme-pullyou from Dr. Dolittle.

In these two shots, you can see the fuzzy, grey chicks.

 We were surprised that the adults were brown, but read online that minerals in the water can stain their white feathers.

In Columbia, Missouri, we saw these swans in a case: the one on the right is the trumpeter swan and the one on the left is a tundra swan.

 We had never seen swans in the wild before and it was pretty exciting. I wrote the family that we are officially Bird Nerds now! Younger son commented that this was hardly new.