See What I See #3: Winter Mute Swans And Their Frozen Web-prints In The Icy Snow

                      

This is Wilma (a female Mute Swan). She and her mate (Fred) have been spending time in our backyard for the last few weeks. The trunk of the tree is providing a little wind-break from the icy winter winds.

                     

This is one of my favourite photos.

I think that it's majestically elegant and peaceful.

I like to think that Mother Nature is emanating her perfection for all of us to see, if we will only stop long enough to acknowledge her magnificence.

I wanted to share this with you... so that you can See What I See. 

                      

Wilma is actually a little smaller than her mate Fred. She also doesn't have as big a black knob on her orange bill. 

(This is how you can tell Mute Swans apart from Trumpeter Swans or Tundra Swans. Mute Swans have orange bills and the Male Mutes have a bigger black knob on the top of their bills than their female partners.)

Males also tend to be more aggressive than females

One exception to this circumstance would be if a female Mute swan felt that her young were being threatened. If this is the case, then "look out" is all I can say because these creatures will generally not back down and they tend to remember.

                      

Here they are together.

                     

I was slowly approaching them and got about 12 feet away before Fred started to changed his posture...

                     

He waddled through the slush and started to puff his feathers out. Then he raised his wings to look bigger and a little more intimidating.

                    

Then, the head bobbing started and it was at this point that @knarly327 got a little nervous for me. He was observing the situation from the comfort of our living room. He opened our patio door and asked me to back away from Fred before he charged me. (I had been paying attention to Fred's body language and I knew that I was treading on thin ice with his tolerance of me.)

I Backed Away Slowly

Fred came forward towards me about 5 more feet and then he stopped. I think that he did this so that I would know where he felt his territory boundary line was...at least for that particular day.

The next day, I took the photo (below) which is of frozen swan web-prints in the snow. 

                      

I had never seen frozen swan web-prints before and I thought that you might enjoy seeing what I see.

                    

A little bit of winter magic, I'd say.

I took all the photos with my Apple 8+ cell phone.

I welcome your comments and I invite you to use the tag #seewhatisee. I also invite you to follow me on my journey...I'll do my best to show you things that are unique and unusual. ;)

~ Rebecca Ryan