Seeing the Trumpeter swan migration up close
While the Spring migration of the Trumpeter and Tundra swans through the southern Yukon is a major event, the Fall migration is generally not, because there is no massive gathering of thousands of swans. At least there’s no massive gathering in a place that’s easy to get to. In Whitehorse we normally just see small numbers at great distances. This year, for two amazing days, though, we got to experience the migration up close.
Cathy called me as she was going into town for an appointment Saturday morning, to let me know that there were dozens of swans just upriver from the sternwheeler S.S. Klondike. I had a few things on the go so didn’t head into town until about 12:30, but as soon as I got within sight of that section of river I could see swans everywhere!
I parked along Robert Service Way and walked down to the Millennium Trail, a popular paved path that runs along the river there. There’s not a lot to say about the 17 photos that follow, shot on Saturday and Sunday – they were all shot with my Canon EOS 7D with a Canon 100-400mm lens. Although I thought I saw one Tundra swan shortly after I got there, I never found it again, so I could been wrong – these are all Trumpeters. There were about 55 of them in total, with about 20 mallards.
Time to find a better spot! 🙂
This sort of action by a swan sparks up every photographer.
A juvenile, and then an adult bald eagle cruised by close to the swans, but saw no targets among the swans or ducks.
On Sunday morning the light was wonderful so I drove back into town again, getting there just before 11:30. There were about 30 swans rather than the 55 of the previous day.
I really wanted a photo of some swans with the historic steamboat S.S. Klondike in the background, but to get the shots I wanted with the swans where they were would require me to get down to the river’s edge, which would no doubt disturb the swans to an unreasonable degree.
Just ten minutes after I arrived, the first swan took off and continued on its long journey south.
Over the next few minutes, 7 more swans left.
As with most natural events, timing is everything – on Monday morning the swans were all gone. People in southern British Columbia will be the next ones to see them in large numbers.
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On a related note, a local photog told me; ‘trolled’ about eagles or osprey buzzing the local bird life… Osprey don’t hunt anything but fish I think but it doesn’t stop them from harassing things like cormorants when the cormorants have tried to separate the osprey from a hard earned fish catch on the wing… Always time well spent.
I’ve forgotten pretty much everything I used to know about ospreys as we don’t see them here. Having seen eagles feeding on a dead swan in front of my Carcross cabin, though, I know what they’re up to.