I went to visit Swan Park in Monticello again this year. I picked a warmer day with a high temperature in the 30's for a nice change. Usually it's bitter cold when I go there. This year there were fewer swans. I saw about 100 swans, 100 Canadian Geese, and 150 mallard ducks. The woman who started feeding the swans died last year but her husband continues feeding them until they find other sources of food. The birds were noisy and they were beautiful. Chunks of ice floating by showed just how fast the Mississippi River was flowing. The open water looked cold but the birds didn't seem to mind. As I stood there appreciating the swans, the geese and the ducks, a bald eagle flew by heading downriver and to the other shore just to make the scenery that much more attractive. I couldn't ask for more. Some of the swans were posturing. Some rose up in the water, stretched their head up high, and flapped their seven foot wings at each other. I could hear the "whomp whomp" of their wings moving the air. Other pairs of swans swam beak to beak, raising and lowering their heads in unison forming heart shaped spaces with their necks as they went down. Some swans flew right over our heads, their beautiful white bodies bright against the blue sky. And the noise! Trumpter swans trumpet loudly and constantly. The mallards quack quite a bit too. The trumpeters are the loudest, the whitest, the biggest and the prettiest birds in town.
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