Cold Love

I slept in this morning and the first thing I heard was a black capped chickadee singing "Fee-Bee!"  The chickadees are thinking about love already.  I see them fighting at the birdfeeder too trying to defend their territory which is another sign of love because normally the chickadee is a chipper and peace loving bird.  Hearing the chickadee this morning reminded me that January is the month I go and visit the Trumpeter Swans in Monticello.  So this morning I drove up there.  I spied a flock of common golden eye ducks diving together first.  I saw a half dozen swans fly by the highway and gracefully land in a field of unpicked corn.  When I got to Swan Park the first thing I noticed was the noise.  I forgot how loud Trumpeter Swans trumpet.  The second thing I noticed was the cold.  Brrr!  It was so cold I couldn't even look upriver because that was into the wind.  If it wasn't so cold I could have moved my camera to the snowman setting and gotten better shots.  All those whitish looking lumps you see out there are Trumpeter Swans.  Feeding time is 10:30 and I got there about 11.  Jim, the Swan Lady's husband, was out there on the river edge spreading corn for the swans, geese and ducks.  I watched as he emptied about 10 five gallon buckets of corn.  He looked colder than I was.  If you don't have the time or resources to drive up to Monticello, the chamber of commerce of offering a "Swan Cam" this year.  Here is the link:  http://monticellofiber.com/swancam.cfm .