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kknightNovember 18 started with me having to get up, go out, and move my car before 9 AM. It wasn't a big deal, but it meant I got up and crept out before my cousin was up. I took my laptop with me and after moving the car I went over to the nearby coffee shop where there was internet service.
This is the view looking out across the water from near my cousin's building.
Once my cousin was up and ready to go she came over to the coffee shop. We set out for the Skagit Valley to look for Trumpeter Swans. My cousin had been wanting to see them since moving there several years ago but she doesn't have a car and she couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with her. She got some advice on where to go from a friend, and off we went. Unsurprisingly, the weather was overcast and gray. At least it wasn't raining when we started out. (It eventually got really nasty and poured, but that was later.) We got to the area where we'd been told to go and drove around for a while until we found a big flock of swans in a field in a place where we could pull off the road. After a while the swans left and so did we. We drove around some more and found more swans, but no more big flocks where we could stop.
Three swans in flight plus a bunch of Cackling Geese
The three grayish swans in the front here are last year's young birds.
A mixture of big Trumpeter Swans and small Cackling Geese. The Tundra Swans and Canada Geese I see at home are much closer in size.
Cackling Geese flying away
A closer view of an adult swan
These swans were raising a fuss about something
There was one oddball bird in the field with the swans and geese - a Sandhill Crane - not something I was expecting.
The scenery was gorgeous, although sometimes hidden from sight.
These are some of the North Cascades. I have not been successful in figuring out a name for them.
I was told that this is Mt Baker. I really can't see it well enough to be sure that's correct, but I think it probably is. The snow blends into the sky and most of it isn't visible.
There's a flock of geese flying in front of these mountains. They look very tiny.
We saw this big nest in a tree. I assume that it is a Bald Eagle nest but I don't know that for sure.
I'd call it a successful swan-watching outing.
This is the view looking out across the water from near my cousin's building.
Once my cousin was up and ready to go she came over to the coffee shop. We set out for the Skagit Valley to look for Trumpeter Swans. My cousin had been wanting to see them since moving there several years ago but she doesn't have a car and she couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with her. She got some advice on where to go from a friend, and off we went. Unsurprisingly, the weather was overcast and gray. At least it wasn't raining when we started out. (It eventually got really nasty and poured, but that was later.) We got to the area where we'd been told to go and drove around for a while until we found a big flock of swans in a field in a place where we could pull off the road. After a while the swans left and so did we. We drove around some more and found more swans, but no more big flocks where we could stop.
Three swans in flight plus a bunch of Cackling Geese
The three grayish swans in the front here are last year's young birds.
A mixture of big Trumpeter Swans and small Cackling Geese. The Tundra Swans and Canada Geese I see at home are much closer in size.
Cackling Geese flying away
A closer view of an adult swan
These swans were raising a fuss about something
There was one oddball bird in the field with the swans and geese - a Sandhill Crane - not something I was expecting.
The scenery was gorgeous, although sometimes hidden from sight.
These are some of the North Cascades. I have not been successful in figuring out a name for them.
I was told that this is Mt Baker. I really can't see it well enough to be sure that's correct, but I think it probably is. The snow blends into the sky and most of it isn't visible.
There's a flock of geese flying in front of these mountains. They look very tiny.
We saw this big nest in a tree. I assume that it is a Bald Eagle nest but I don't know that for sure.
I'd call it a successful swan-watching outing.
