The Online Alaska
Pioneer Press
Pioneer Press
The Magic
of Swans
By Robin Song
PIONEER PRESS COLUMNIST
In the cabin, hard at work on a
painting one late September afternoon,
I heard my name being yelled excitedly
from outside. Jerking open the door to
see what was going on, I found the
caller standing, pointing up to the sky.
I stepped to the edge of the porch,
looked up, and stood stunned as the
leading edges of three “V”s of swans
came into view above the edge of the
forest northwest of the cabin.
For a full second or two I stood
awestruck, then the word “camera!”
flashed across my brain. I dashed
inside, grabbed my trusty Olympus and
sprang back to the top of the porch
stairs. There were easily four hundred
great white birds winging overhead.
Their plaintive calls identified them as
tundra swans.
They were magnificent, etched against
the clear blue sky, lit up by an early
afternoon sun. My hands trembled
with excitement, so the two videos I
made came out a bit jiggly. I couldn’t
fit all the birds into one frame without
zooming out, in which case they all
would have been tiny dots. Instead, I
focused on sections and managed to
get a couple of decent photos. The
swans were heading southeast, and all
too soon they were disappearing over
the treeline in the distance, leaving us
humans standing motionless, still
marveling at Nature’s migration
spectacle.
Alaska is the breeding ground for three
species of swans; trumpeter,
whooping, and tundra. Whoopers and
tundras each have a wingspan of six to
seven feet. The trumpeter’s is six to
eight feet. The whoopers have an
extensive bright yellow saddle covering
1/2 or more of the upper bill. Tundras
sport a bright yellow spot on the black
bill just in front of each eye.
Trumpeters have a red stripe where the
upper and lower bills meet.
Most distinct is the call of each
species. The trumpeters, aptly named,
issue a low-pitched trumpet-like “ko
hoh.” The whooper, also aptly named,
emits a low-pitched “whoop whoop,”
usually in flight. The tundra has a high-
pitched, often quavering, clear, singing
“oo-oo-oo,” accentuated in the middle.
The tundra swan is named for its
nesting habitat. Usually they build their
nest mounds on dry upland sites,
sometimes many yards from water.
Occasionally they will build nests on
small islands. During migration they
will rest in wetlands, on lakes,rivers,
and salt water.
of Swans
By Robin Song
PIONEER PRESS COLUMNIST
In the cabin, hard at work on a
painting one late September afternoon,
I heard my name being yelled excitedly
from outside. Jerking open the door to
see what was going on, I found the
caller standing, pointing up to the sky.
I stepped to the edge of the porch,
looked up, and stood stunned as the
leading edges of three “V”s of swans
came into view above the edge of the
forest northwest of the cabin.
For a full second or two I stood
awestruck, then the word “camera!”
flashed across my brain. I dashed
inside, grabbed my trusty Olympus and
sprang back to the top of the porch
stairs. There were easily four hundred
great white birds winging overhead.
Their plaintive calls identified them as
tundra swans.
They were magnificent, etched against
the clear blue sky, lit up by an early
afternoon sun. My hands trembled
with excitement, so the two videos I
made came out a bit jiggly. I couldn’t
fit all the birds into one frame without
zooming out, in which case they all
would have been tiny dots. Instead, I
focused on sections and managed to
get a couple of decent photos. The
swans were heading southeast, and all
too soon they were disappearing over
the treeline in the distance, leaving us
humans standing motionless, still
marveling at Nature’s migration
spectacle.
Alaska is the breeding ground for three
species of swans; trumpeter,
whooping, and tundra. Whoopers and
tundras each have a wingspan of six to
seven feet. The trumpeter’s is six to
eight feet. The whoopers have an
extensive bright yellow saddle covering
1/2 or more of the upper bill. Tundras
sport a bright yellow spot on the black
bill just in front of each eye.
Trumpeters have a red stripe where the
upper and lower bills meet.
Most distinct is the call of each
species. The trumpeters, aptly named,
issue a low-pitched trumpet-like “ko
hoh.” The whooper, also aptly named,
emits a low-pitched “whoop whoop,”
usually in flight. The tundra has a high-
pitched, often quavering, clear, singing
“oo-oo-oo,” accentuated in the middle.
The tundra swan is named for its
nesting habitat. Usually they build their
nest mounds on dry upland sites,
sometimes many yards from water.
Occasionally they will build nests on
small islands. During migration they
will rest in wetlands, on lakes,rivers,
and salt water.
The home base for your Alaskan Adventure in the heart of Talkeetna. 907-733-8500 E-mail us here P.O Box 353, Talkeetna, AK 99676 |
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When young swans mature, after their first few years,
they choose a mate. The pair mate for life and also
choose a nesting territory to which they will return
each year. They will vigorously defend their large
territories while raising three to five cygnets. They
incubate for one month, then spend the rest of the
summer raising seven-ounce cygnets into fourteen-
pound adolescents, ready for the long migration
Outside.
While the exact lifespan will vary, one banded tundra
swan was recorded at 21 years old.
Swans have captured our imagination down through
human history. They have been immortalized in myths
and legends. They are essential symbols in rituals
from India, Greece and England, and to the far North.
Swans are transformed into men and women in
legends, pulls chariots of the gods, and are helpers to
seekers of peace and wisdom. Tracing back to the
Stone Age, swans are connected with life, death, and
the soul in European and Native American cultures.
Siberian tribes believed the swan was the mother of
man, the eagle the father. Swans embodied human
souls, and to kill one was to die. The ballet “Swan
Lake” was based on this legend, debuting in Moscow
in 1877.
Swans symbolized the mystic journey to the Other
World, in ancient Greece. Plato and Socrates both
believed swans sang just before they died, hence the
phrase “swan song”. Pythagoras believed that all good
poets passed into swans at death- a ‘reward’ for well-
sung words. Shakespeare was given the title “Swan of
Avon” when the great bard died.
A great white trumpeter swan sits at each of the four
directional points, in Navajo legend and conjures up
the winds with the beating of huge white wings.
(Indeed- the 40-pound adult trumpeter swans have
wings powerful enough to break a man’s leg.)
Maybe it was deeply-embedded instinct which caused
me to stand and gaze in silent awe at the sight of these
birds in flight. I have never seen that many swans
flying together before, nor have I seen that many
tundra swans.
Perhaps it will prove to be a once-in-a-lifetime event.
And what a perfect one it was; a rare sunny day with
few clouds, trees in their waning autumn glory, and
sun-kissed white feathers lit up against a deep blue
sky. Their calls haunt my psyche, and my heart longs
to fly with them. Maybe my soul will pass into a swan
when I leave this earthly plane, if I prove worthy of
such an honor.
they choose a mate. The pair mate for life and also
choose a nesting territory to which they will return
each year. They will vigorously defend their large
territories while raising three to five cygnets. They
incubate for one month, then spend the rest of the
summer raising seven-ounce cygnets into fourteen-
pound adolescents, ready for the long migration
Outside.
While the exact lifespan will vary, one banded tundra
swan was recorded at 21 years old.
Swans have captured our imagination down through
human history. They have been immortalized in myths
and legends. They are essential symbols in rituals
from India, Greece and England, and to the far North.
Swans are transformed into men and women in
legends, pulls chariots of the gods, and are helpers to
seekers of peace and wisdom. Tracing back to the
Stone Age, swans are connected with life, death, and
the soul in European and Native American cultures.
Siberian tribes believed the swan was the mother of
man, the eagle the father. Swans embodied human
souls, and to kill one was to die. The ballet “Swan
Lake” was based on this legend, debuting in Moscow
in 1877.
Swans symbolized the mystic journey to the Other
World, in ancient Greece. Plato and Socrates both
believed swans sang just before they died, hence the
phrase “swan song”. Pythagoras believed that all good
poets passed into swans at death- a ‘reward’ for well-
sung words. Shakespeare was given the title “Swan of
Avon” when the great bard died.
A great white trumpeter swan sits at each of the four
directional points, in Navajo legend and conjures up
the winds with the beating of huge white wings.
(Indeed- the 40-pound adult trumpeter swans have
wings powerful enough to break a man’s leg.)
Maybe it was deeply-embedded instinct which caused
me to stand and gaze in silent awe at the sight of these
birds in flight. I have never seen that many swans
flying together before, nor have I seen that many
tundra swans.
Perhaps it will prove to be a once-in-a-lifetime event.
And what a perfect one it was; a rare sunny day with
few clouds, trees in their waning autumn glory, and
sun-kissed white feathers lit up against a deep blue
sky. Their calls haunt my psyche, and my heart longs
to fly with them. Maybe my soul will pass into a swan
when I leave this earthly plane, if I prove worthy of
such an honor.