The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.
We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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Late October 2019
Pacific Northwest
First Of Season Trumpeter Swans! I saw them a week ago Sunday but since we’d been away I didn’t know which day they’d actually arrived. Reports from neighbors indicate that day was the earliest anybody saw them hereabouts.
First saw them as we drove past Otto’s marsh on our way home.
Next day I heard them from my house. Checking the view down a neighbor’s driveway I saw the first swans had settled onto the pond across the way.
A closer look revealed they were all adults. Juvenile swans are grey, and will arrive by and by with their parents, who migrate as late as possible giving their youngsters time to build strength and skill. Some of the adults present here now are clearly pairs, who for whatever reason didn’t breed this summer. Swans maintain longterm relationships with their mates and you can see how close they are, even in a flock.
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At this time of year the ponds and wetlands are still pretty shallow. The fall rains haven’t really started yet. With their long necks, swans can reach down to pluck submerged greenery, sometimes getting at the weed by tipping. Note all the ducks loitering around. The Wigeons, Mallards, Buffleheads and Ringnecks, who have also recently migrated here for the winter, are hoping some of the greenery freed up by the swans will float to the surface where they can grab it. The water is too deep in the middle of these ponds for ducks, even tipping. The swans thrash the bottom with their feet and then snap up the loosened weed. These early days in our ponds and wetlands are particularly fruitful.
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My eBird reports indicate the swans are here at the early end of their arrival date range based on what I’ve seen over the past few years that I’ve been paying attention. Reports from the rest of the county show that the swans arrived on my island first. The mainland Skagit River Delta swans arrived a week or so before us. Most of our western Washington swans breed in southeastern Alaska.
Otto’s, my FOS dates:
2019: Oct 27
2018: Nov 8
2017: Oct 26
2016: Nov 21
At the pond across the road I’ve been reporting their arrival longer since they are visible on my daily walkies by looking down the visual corridor of a neighbor’s driveway. I’m cued to look by the sound of their conversation wafting up from the wetland, a lovely melodious deep tootling call very unlike that of geese or ducks.
Pond, my FOS dates:
2019: Oct 29
2018: Nov 04
2017: Nov 3 but Oct 30 flying over my house
2016: Nov 18
2015: Nov 04
2014: Nov 12
Birds of North America says swans migrate when their summer breeding sites freeze over or food gets scarce. Since it’s warmer than ever up in Alaska these days perhaps there’s a issue with food availability up north these days.
I just love it when the swans arrive. They’re one of the reasons I’m so fond of winter. It’s early days still, lots more swans still to arrive. We’ve had northerly winds this past week and that’s forecast to continue for another few days. Makes a good tail wind for migrating swans, ducks and geese.
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Hazy and warmer in the PNW islands. Upper 40s. Light north wind.
What’s up in nature in your area today?
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