Duck, Duck,Goose, Nope Swan

I am always amazed at the things I get to see out here in the middle of nowhere. I do follow Mike Blythe's blog Existing in BFE and marvel at the pictures he gets in and around his area of Florida. I especially enjoy the nature photographs. Yesterday Lily and I had to take the truck up to Wataga to mail some bills at the post office and buy some stamps. Yes I am that old fashioned. Checks in envelopes to folks I owe money. The other thing should be obvious to all truck and dog owners. Dogs LOVE trucks. If there is any opportunity my buddy Lily is getting to go along for the ride. We completed our business in Wataga and proceeded back home. About a two miles from home three large white birds flew over the top of the truck and landed out in a corn field. When the flew over my initial reaction was JTFC (for those who don't recognize that abbreviation it is Jesus Titty Fucking Christ) those are some big birds. Since they were white my initial guess was that they were Snow Geese.

This is a picture off the internet of a snow goose. Please note the yellow legs, white face and dark tail. Those features will be important later.

 

 



I realize it is difficult to see in this picture and I apologize for the picture quality.These were taken on my camera's maximum magnification and at at distance of over 100 yards. If you look at the head of the bird you will note a black colored area from the beak to the eye. The tail is white and the legs, while difficult to see are black.

 





This picture is a bit better and again clearly shows the head which does not match the head of a snow goose. Some internet searching turned up the following picture.

Note the similarities to the picture I took. The face, the white tail and the black legs. Additionally the neck is much longer than a snow goose. The picture above is a Trumpeter Swan. Some research indicated the birds were well out of their normal habitat. I can state to the best of my recollection I have never seen one in this area. It was another reason they stuck me as unusual when I saw them.

 

So my advice dear readers is keep your camera handy. You never know when Mother Nature or fate or just dumb luck is going to provide you with an opportunity for a once in a lifetime picture or two. I am thankful for the internet and the billions of pictures out there. Without that vast resource at my fingertips I may never have known exactly what I saw.