The pond dig has begun!

[CountryEscape]

A week ago Saturday, on January 30, I noticed something big and white in the fields. I was sure they were not Snow Geese, which are in the fields by the thousands again, so got out my binoculars. They are Trumpeter Swans! How freaking cool is that??? They have been either behind my house in the field, or most recently in front of my house out in the field ever since. They are NOT there when I go out to do chores in the morning at 7 a.m. I look in all directions. This morning, at 8, I saw 6 of them, and by 8:15, the other two arrives. They are a group of 8, and two of them are always together, so obviously a mating pair. I wonder if the other 6 are their "kids" from last year. LOL As you can see in the last picture, one of them was getting ornery with the others. I have been really enjoying observing them in my "neighborhood". I'm not sure how long they will hang around, but I feel very privileged they choose to come back every morning.
Oh, and to get these pictures, I walked between 1/4 and 1/2 mile in the 5" deep muddy corn stalk fields to get close enough to get a decent picture. I was all the way zoomed in, and then cropped the picture to make it even closer, so ... yeah, that far! But, it was worth it.
Just to give you some perspective, the trees that you see in the background are almost a mile past the swans! My house is behind me, about 1/3 mile away or more.

 

[sissy]

wow look at them all and looks like they may be nesting

 

[j.w]

Very neat CE. We have them and the snow geese here also and they are very beautiful.

 

[addy1]

wow look at them all and looks like they may be nesting

Sure hope not, the farmer will plow the nest under when he works the field.

Neat pictures CE

 

[sissy]

They do that here and the wild geese and ducks lay there eggs in farmers fields and it is such a shame .

 

[CountryEscape]

The Snow Geese will be long gone before the farmers come to plow the fields. I've never seen the Trumpeter Swans before, and I've been here 6 years now! So, it's very exciting. They were not here this morning, VERY cold here again. Will watch for them tomorrow. I just think they are so huge and beautiful! They are 3 times the size of the snow geese, and I thought the snow geese were big! Here's a picture I took last weekend of the Swans mingling with the Snow Geese. They had stayed apart every other day but this day. This was a much smaller group of geese this time. The size difference makes the Snow Geese look like small ducks. LOL