Meet 504 and A15!!!!!!!!!

[kelly_m]

What a great accidental finding!!! I was clocking the distance from my house to this one spot nearby on the Wye River for my daughter today. She is into running as well as skating so he needed to know the distance. Of Course this is one of my favourite spots for wildlife so I had to peek around before off on the rest of my errand. Fortunately I was only 2.5 km from home so I raced back to get my camera because I saw one (actually 2) of the world's rare sights!!! Well actually these guys gals are making a comback due in very large part to projects at Wildlife centres like the one not far from where I live!

OMG these two were beautiful!! And majestic!!! And dirty!!! They were foraging in the swampish waters near the edge of the river!!

504 would be the larger (and probably male) Trumpeter Swan on the right while while A15 is on the left (female I am assuming!) Id'ing the bird was easy as they are metal leg banded and yeloow wing tagged for identification and tracking.

Enough! Here they are!!!LOL

[Katherine]

Congrats on the sighting, Kelly. I have only seen them once or twice, in the distant past. truly a magestic bird. Even when dirty!

Did you have to go on the 401 to see 504 adn A15? Lol!

kat

[Smitty]

WOW!!!!! congrats Kelly!!

[Laura]

How wonderful to see them so close to home .... do they nest around there or do they move on ?

[kelly_m]

Thanks!!! It sure got a "COOL" froim my DD when I told her!!!

Nope, no no 401...although I had to go on cty rd 6 to the 4th to get there!!!

The Wye Marsh has had a Swan program for years. They have a rehabilitation and release program. They have successfully breeded many and unfortunately has had to treat them for injury.

So yes, they do breed in this area, and as we have two major marshes, (Wye and the Tiny) plus a great big body of water (Georgian Bay) It is a lovely place for them to come!!!LOL

[bluebird]

Awesome Kelly!!! (Thanks for the swan alert head's up btw!)

Our little birding group is heading over your way to Tiny Marsh area soon and if we're really lucky maybe your Trumps will put in an appearance? Could you have a quiet word with them?

So beautiful they are...mud and all!

We had an untagged one hanging out at Sauble last winter; Mr. Lonelyheart. He was spending his time in company with a lone Mute Swan. I think they were both a bit confused-lol.

[kelly_m]

Oh!!! What a beautiful shot!!!!

I was reading that they only tag the adults....I guess they wait to see if they survive. metal leg tag and yellow wing tag. Usually if the wing tags have fallen off there is still the metal leg tag. If Your guy shows up around the Midland area he'll probably get tagged! So perhaps he is one of the babies grown to full size this year!!!!

So if a Trumpeter and a Mute mate would that be a Silent Trumpet??? A Mutrump?

[Eeyore]

A Mutrump! Ha! Ha! Love it.

Beautiful sighting and photo Kelly. I've only ever seen them flying overhead at about 3000 feet!

How did you manage to read the tags?

[kelly_m]

Cause the wings tags are pretty big!!!!!!

[Eeyore]

Wow! They sure are, I guess that's so the biologists don't have to get that close to read them.