Trumpeter Swan Revisited

Today I met a friend in Monticello and went to visit the Trumpeter Swans. There is a riverside park in Monticello, between two residential lots where thousands of trumpeter swans relax in the Mississippi river where the water is warmed by the nuclear power plant. This is their sexy time of year. When the rest of us are shivering and we feel too cold to even extend out necks out of our winter parkas, the trumpeter swans are getting it on. As shown in the photo on the right, they extend their wings (up to 10 feet across) and rise up out of the water and display their beautiful bodies in hopes of getting some action. They mate for life but will take up a new mate if their old mate dies. When we got out of the van the noise they make is extremely loud. I likened it to a busy intersection in New York City where the traffic is jammed and 30 taxis are blowing their horns. It's deafening. I couldn't help myself. I walked to the edge of the park by the river, leaned over the rail and yelled, "Be Quiet!" They didn't hear me. So many trumpeter swans and they all had something to say. In between the swans are Canadian geese and some mallards. The geese look so small in comparison. The mallards are ridiculously small. A neighbor woman feeds the swans in rubbermaid tubs that are too high for the geese and ducks to use. The geese and ducks get only what is spilled on the ground unless they fly into the tubs. I saw a mallard do that - she flew into the tub and a swan saw that and flew in after her. We saw a duck and a swan inside the same tub. They both scrambled out as quickly as they could. The woman has a corn crib in her driveway. She has attached pvc pipe (about 10 inch diameter) to the corn crib down her yard about 100 feet towards the river. At the river bank the pvc pipe angles down sharply. On the lower river bank she has about 20 rubbermaid tubs. On other years I watched her fill all the tubs and scatter the tubs several feet apart along her shore. I put some money in a donation box so the woman can continue to feed the swans. They are such beautiful birds. They fly up and down the river with their short black legs under their tails. As they land they fly low across the water for a long time before landing. I thought the tips of their wings would hit the water they flew so low but they'd skim the surface, pull their feet forward, and land like waterskiiers. When they stand on the icy shore they would honk and honk and bob their heads up and down at each other. If access to a rubbermaid tub was blocked, a swan would bite the animal in it's way with it's mouth and pull back to get a chance to eat. The cygnets (less than a year old) are grey but the adults are white. This is such a wonderful sight to see that I keep coming back, year after year (at least 6 years now), to see them. Today was much more comfortable (warmer) than other years I have gone there. To get there, head to Monticello and go east on Hwy. 75 towards the hospital. Turn South on Hwy. 39 (towards Otsego). Turn left on the second street (Riverside Drive). The park is between two houses less than a mile up the road on the right. They've added parking spaces this year which is very convenient. I don't know how long they stay in Monticello so you better go soon if you want to catch them.