Visitors

Sitting in the house this afternoon, I noticed several little white specs on the lake. I went out to investigate, and saw that eight trumpeter swans had landed on the other side of the lake, directly across from our dock. I watched them for awhile, swimming back and forth, ducking their long neck under the water from from time to time, and taking shelter under a bog overhang as it started to drizzle. When the rain started coming down harder, I headed back to the house.

An hour later when the rain stopped, I went down to the lake again to see if our visitors were still around. As I came around the boardwalk’s final turn where it opens up to the lake, I discovered that all eight swans were right there at our dock, twenty feet in front of me.

Surprise!

I gasped out loud. For sure they scared me, but not as much as I scared them. As soon as they saw (or probably heard) me, they let out a collective squawk and flew off. And holy cow, what a site to see. They were huge! It felt like I was watching the jumbo-jet of birds taking flight. The way they lumbered across the water, paddled the surface with their feet to get a little more loft, and slowly rose into the air…. It was spectacular!

Once they were gone, I also discovered what they left behind. Turns out, as the swans ducked under the water’s surface to scavenge their meal, they also pulled up the little aquatic plants growing where the bog meets the water. With eight swans eating all together, they left quite the plant trail behind them.

Another breathtaking experience!