I have seen the Trumpeter Swans swimming, but I haven’t seen them on their nest.  They have gotten so big not all of them fit in the nest at the same time even though their nest is quite impressive in size.  How many do you see?

Now how many do you see?  One of the parents headed out onto the water first.

The cygnets followed.  Apparently, one of the cygnets wanted some alone time.  He was taking a nap on the water near the nest.

There were quite a number of people who stopped on the north side of Highway 49 to watch the show with me.  There truly were seven swans a-swimming.  The songwriter for “The Twelve Days of Christmas” must have known that Trumpeter Swans typically have 4-6 cygnets.  Here there are two adults and five cygnets.

The scientific name for the Trumpeter Swan is Cygnus buccinator.  Cygnus is the Latin word for swan.  A cygnet is a little swan.  Buccinator is a muscle in our cheek.  We use it to play the trumpet.

Even swan siblings like to play in the water.

The cygnet’s bills are gradually turning black and their feathers are turning white.  I haven’t seen them fly yet.  Trumpeter Swans are North America’s heaviest flying birds.  Males can weigh over 30 pounds.

The lighting changed and a cloud drifted in front of the sun.  The rippling water turned gray.

The light changed again as the sun dipped lower in the sky and cast a golden glow in the evening.  Trumpeter Swans were once endangered with fewer than one hundred known to be living.  Their numbers have rebounded and we are blessed to be able to see them at the Horicon Marsh.