Swan, swan, hummingbird

Lovely Cora, Cato, and Greg,

We have successfully concluded our campaign into the nearly-frozen north, having calmly stormed the borders of two states to plant the flag of birdwatching freedom, while raising the seeds of conservation awareness. Oregon and Washington are, I daresay, better states for us having been there.

And yet...Holy frozen tundra, Batman!

Our final destination was Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge, near Camas, WA. The word, "Steigerwald" is apparently German for, "an icy cold place with howling winds," and it lived up to its heritage proudly.

The objective was a recently seen Trumpeter Swan, a fairly hard-to-find bird in California. It was joined by several Tundra Swans and a nearby Anna's Hummingbird, which we found sitting forlornly on a bare branch, wondering why her DNA hadn't given her the instinct to fly south for the winter.

Now, here is the best picture I was able to secure of these swans:

Notice the fine details of the swan's plumage

These particular swans are apparently tired of paparazzi, as they refused to come over for autographs or candids, despite repeated, politely worded requests on our behalf, such as, "Dammit bird, get the hell over here, we're freezing!"

We were reduced to squinting through our scope as it shook in the afternoon gale, trying to decide if the one of the swans was somewhat bigger than the others, and whether it had a bit of yellow on its face or not. We eventually concluded that there was indeed swan matching the description of a Trumpeter, and then we concluded we were crazy and ran for the car.

Although being the largest native North American waterfowl, Trumpeter swans are hard to find because they nearly went extinct due to over-hunting, habitat destruction, and toxins including pesticides and lead shot. Trumps were declared "4th rarest bird in North America" in the 40s, with fewer than 100 individuals known (the rarest bird at the time was apparently Bette Davis or Rita Hayworth, depending on who you ask).

That said, you can hardly blame the hunters; as I read in the 1901 classic, "American Duck Shooting" by G. B. Grinnell, "The young birds are very good eating", although you should stay away from the older ones as they are "tough and hardly edible".

With years of protection and management efforts, the populations have rebounded to an estimated 35,000 individuals, so maybe we're not far away from being able to have Roast Cygnet on the Thanksgiving Day menu?

Aloha,
Me