Steve,
They were Tundra Swans. I live on the west side of "downtown"
Annandale, just south of Little River Tunpike and a little east of
Medford Drive. At about 7:20 a.m. the same morning (Mar. 11) I heard a
flock of Tundra Swans overhead to the SW (this is a first for me in
Annandale), but I never could see them. Then, at 7:43 I heard, then saw
a flock of 100+ Tundra Swans, shortly followed by a flock of 19 Tundra
Swans. They both passed by to my east, headed NNE. They were
moderately high up and flying strongly. I was pretty thrilled about
this. Shortly thereafter, at 7:45 a.m. a Cooper's Hawk, also moderately
high up, flapped and soared north over my apartment, seemingly also in
migration.
John Bazuin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve Johnson
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Subject
[va-bird] what kind of swans did
03/11/2006 03:11 I see?
PM
Please respond
to
stevejohnson2@ve
rizon.net
Hi everyone,
This morning (beautiful warm Saturday), my son and I saw a flock of
roughly 15-20 swans right over our house in Oakton (near Fairfax). They
were spread in a very shallow "V", not the more pointed arrow typical of
geese, and had very long necks. In the binocs they were completely
white, although in the short time I watched, I might have missed some
small black areas. The lighting was good - I'm sure about the overall
white color.
They were calling, which was how we first noticed them, and the sound
was very different from geese - higher pitched and less nasal. They
continued calling as they passed.
My book lists TUNDRA SWANs as uncommon and local in winter in this area;
and MUTE SWANs as introduced and living wild on the East Coast.
Any guesses as to what we saw? Should I assume that the vocalizations
pretty much rule out MUTE SWANs?
Thanks!!
- Steve Johnson
Fairfax, VA
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