Dark Night on a Gravel Road

Last night we completed our owl survey that we do every year as part of a project sponsored by Hawk Ridge in Duluth. It's called the Western Great lakes Owl Survey.  Two siblings, a friend, and I headed out to our route near Pierz and Freedham, MN.  We actually made it to Freedham which is a very small town.  We got frustrated because our map is woefully inadequate.  The roads are not marked correctly if at all on the map.  I'm sure we were in the right general vicinity.  After scouting the roads we stopped for dinner at "The Bank" in Pierz.  For a small town this restaurant had an amazing variety of food to offer.  The food was good and reasonable in price.  By 8:15 we were at the first of our ten owl stops.  We stood outside and listened.  The sky was 100% covered with clouds and we were glad it wasn't raining.  The wind was cool and gusty and the temperature was 39 degrees.  We heard one or two great horned owls at our third stop.  We heard a couple owls at our fourth stop too and it was hard to tell if they were the same owls we heard at the previous stop.  One sounded a lot closer but it may have flown our way as we drove.  The wind died down a little.  We stood on dirt roads in silence listening.  We could hear dogs barking.  Some hounds howl in a way that resembles owls.  We heard cows mooing and even though they make an ooo sound, we can tell them apart from owls.  We could hear trains in the distance - probably along the tracks near Highway 10 in Little Falls.  We might have heard coyotes.  We didn't hear any insects although we did see one hardy moth fly by the headlights.  At stop eight we heard sand hill cranes talking with some Canadian geese and Trumpeter swans.  At stop 9 we heard Trumpeter swans in the distance.  We stood in the dark and waited in silence.  The swans sounded closer. Do swans fly in the dark?  That seem rather risky for a big bird like a swan.  There was no moon and no stars.  The trumpets were coming closer.  We're standing in the road in the pitch blackness.  The lights of Pierz are barely visible.  I'm sure the swans cannot see us.  What if the swans were flying low and struck us?  Can you imagine the bird with the largest wing span of any bird on the continent barreling into you in the pitch blackness?  That would knock you off your feet for sure.  Isolation and darkness make me a little paranoid.  Now we can hear the wind going through their feathers and the sounds of their wings flapping.  They're very close now.  Staring as hard as I can into the night sky I cannot see a freaking thing.  A polite "Honk" tells me they are right overhead now and high enough that we are safe.  Relieved we listen to their wings flapping away toward the town of Pierz.  I couldn't see a thing.  Even without my eyes I knew we had an awesome moment there.