Mute Swan (Earl)

Yowza! This guy is HUGE! My book says that their bodies are 5 feet long and their wing span is 7-8 feet. I'm thinking, at least!!

I went to Boardman Lake/River today to see if any water foul were near shore. My my, yes they were. (And I have the goose poo on my shoes to prove it.) I took 368 images today... and have been at the computer for more than 2 hours trying to decide which one to post... (I know, get a life. But seriously, this has been tough and my blip decision helper is out of town.) :-/

I started photographing the geese. They were timid at first, but eventually 3 pair swam around in front of the river dock I was on. I was so pleased and focused on getting a good shot that I almost fell in the river when Giagantor the Swan came into my viewfinder. He seemed so interest in what I was doing and he came right to the edge of dock and posed for quite a while. Now, it could be that he was checking to see if I had food. But, it is clearly posted to not feed the water foul. (In fact it actually says, DO NOT feed the water foul... Yes, that means ducks, swans, geese etc. (I'm imagining the conversation that lead to the last part needing to be added to the sign: "No, officer, I wasn't feeding a water foul... I was feeding a duck...") ~Oops, got off track.~ Anyway, he sort of intimidated me at first. His size surprised me! I knew they were big, bigger than a goose, but I had never seen one this close. Clearly I had minimized this graceful beauty. As I worked on relaxing, I continued to click away and he remained focused on me for the whole time he was close. (4- 5 feet from me) Then he swam around with the geese, like the odd man out, up and down the river. When I was about to go home, I saw him returning so I waited for him. The more I talked to him the more interested he looked. I may be reading a whole lot into this, but I find it rewarding to connect (on some level) with a wild being. It was a very enjoyable experience. Bigger is better, at least that's what Earl says.

Of course, due to my indecision and successful session, I have posted 3 more shots on Flickr. Check them out if you so desire. I did get several of his impressive plumage, but that just didn't seem to be what today was about.