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Wednesday, January 15, 2025

An Unexpected Sighting

This photo was taken by myself and submitted to this local online publication
While we've become accustomed to viewing various types of bird life on the Nashua River from our 5th floor mill apartment window, such as gulls, Canada geese, Mallard ducks, cormorants and great blue herons. This was a very unusual site last week when we spotted this pair of Mute Swans. (All of these photos were taken indoors from our apartment.)
This pair stayed close to one another the entire time
This pair was quite attentive to one another during the half hour or more that we watched until they were out of our viewing. According to online sources, Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) mate in a complex ritual. They will stare at one another doing up and down neck motions and will often raise both heads together to look at each other with sideways glances turning their heads from side to side They are known for being monogamous and forming long-lasting relationships, usually until one of the pair dies.

Hopefully, this pair will return again, so I could take some photos from the riverbank. Gusty winds and frigid temps made going outdoors very uninviting last week.

9 comments:

kathyinozarks said...

Good morning how special!! a few years ago now we spotted a pair of swans but haven't seen them again great photos too

Bijoux said...

Those are some great shots. I bet they were fun to watch.

Tom said...

...they are so graceful.

Boud said...

Birding from indoors is definitely the easiest. These are good shots,too. Let us know if they're published, please.

Linda G said...

We are birding indoors too, but no swans at our vantage point! Those are great pictures of the swans.

Anvilcloud said...

I was taking pictures by the downtown bridge when a man stopped me to tell me that he a taken photos of swans from there, two weeks prior. I imagine that they are trumpeter swans as they have returned now and then for the past few winters, I think I made post last year or maybe the year before that.

Barbara Rogers said...

What beauties they are, and so glad you could take zoomed photos from inside while the weather outside is definitely "frightful."

Pamela M. Steiner said...

Those are great pictures, especially taken from your 5th story window! Wow! And I've never heard of "Mute Swans" before. I had to look them up to see if they are really "mute". I guess they aren't quite as loud and noisy as Trumpeter Swans, but they do still make noises. They certainly are beautiful! Thank you for sharing. I hope they come back so you can watch them some more!!

gigi-hawaii said...

Beautiful photography! You should have your favorite one framed.