Middle Creek tundra swans

Pulled into the Willow Point lot before sunrise and walked out onto the dike. The main lake was mostly ice at the edges, open in the middle, and full of swans. Middle Creek in November doesn’t do anything subtle.

The tundra swans were starting to move — a flock of maybe eighty came in from the east about twenty minutes after the sun was up, dropped hard onto the lake, and kept calling for another ten minutes. I don’t know why, because tundra swans in a group just sound like gossiping to me.

In addition to the swans, a respectable showing of Northern Pintail, Canvasback, and Common Mergansers. A single Bald Eagle on the far shore for most of the morning. And a Northern Harrier working the dike grass that came within maybe thirty feet of the auto road. That was a lucky pass.

The classic Middle Creek shot is swans landing with wings still spread and feet out, and I got one of those I’m happy with. Morning tip: shoot east until about 9:00 AM, then move to the other side of the lake.

Ate a bagel in the truck and drove home via back roads, watching every red-tail in every field.