Fowl

[rejectomorph]

As the clouds took on color nearing sunset, I heard bird calls -- geese, or swans, perhaps -- but I couldn't see their source. They appeared suddenly, winging directly toward my location at treetop height. There were three large birds, dark, with long necks outstretched. As they passed no more than a hundred feet above my head, I heard the whooshing sound of their rapidly flapping wings. From the time they appeared until they vanished beyond another stand of pine took no more than a few seconds, but I continued to hear their calls long after. Now that I've gotten a close look at them, I might be able to find out what species they are. To Google Image Search, at the first opportunity.

Comments

[hyperina.livejournal.com]

i've never seen a flying swan

Re:

[rejectomorph]

I'm not sure that I have, either. I still haven't been able to identify the birds who fly over my neighborhood this time of year. They are migratory, since I never hear them from mid spring to late fall. In winter, they come into the mountains only on the warmer evenings and nights. This was the first time I've seen them so early in the evening, when the light was still good. I'm fairly sure that they are either swans or geese. They sound very much like trumpeter swans, but those are very rare in California. These birds were also darker than I would expect adult trumpeter swans to be, even before they molt to their summer white. Also, these three were all the same size, so if they were the darker juvenile swans, they were flying without adult supervision, which is not a trumpeter swan characteristic. I suppose they might have been Canada geese, though if they were, they were of one of the larger races (the only ones with such loud voices), and those rarely winter in California, so it's a puzzle.

[waning-estrogen.livejournal.com]

that sound file of trumpeters doesn't sound like the wedges of Canadians that pass over my house several times a year, and Canada geese are light in color on the underbelly/breast side.

Re:

[rejectomorph]

The Canada Goose calls from this page are similar to the sounds made by the birds I hear, but those in the recording seem higher pitched. The trumpeter swan recording I linked to above has a bit lower pitch than my local birds. My birds might be some other species altogether. I wish the birds would just wear name tags.

[dotmeister.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful post!

Re:

[rejectomorph]

Thanks. :-)

[mom.livejournal.com]

Let us know if you see or hear any more of them. One thing that I love about living in the High Desert is the abundance of different birds that migrate through. We have bird feeders out front and see all types of them. We have a flock of California Quail that live on our property that are the size of large chickens because we feed them so much scratch. This year and last year we have had resident Hummingbirds that did not continue South. They look really funny flying in the snow. Each year we seem to get more and more birds. I think that they know we feed them and stop in for a pit-stop. We love them.

Re:

[rejectomorph]

I'll certainly post about them if I see them again. If they were young trumpeters (which would account for their dark color, and maybe for the higher pitch of their calls) then they were a rare sight. Very few of that species are believed to winter in California.

We used to get quite a few quail here, as well, but there are fewer open fields nearby (and more cats) than there were when I moved in, so they come around rarely now.