This is a swan song (sort of.) After we drove Sherry and Jimmy to Anchorage to catch a flight home we passed a pond full of lily pads on our way back to Seward. 

Jim says “What’s that?” He was looking at two white sticks protruding from the tall grass.

He thought it might be Geese so he pulled  off the road so I could look for birds. Turns out it was Trumpeter Swans, not Geese (he is so good at spotting birds for me.) Eventually one of the Swans wadded into open water and it had a baby (Cygnet) with it! Then I noticed a Red Necked Grebe family paddling around in the foreground.  What luck! 































Then I saw the Swan’s mate heading for the open water. And to my surprise this Swan stepped out of the tall grass with three more Cygnets! While I’ve seen many Swans I have never seen Cygnets before! And to see four was  really amazing. They just paddled around giving me a ton of opportunities to photograph them.  See how pretty the Red Necked Grebe is paddling around in front of the swans.

While I am focused on the Swans Jim says “There’s a Moose!” Sure enough, there was an extremely pregnant Moose cow wandering across the far side of the meadow.

In Alaska when you see a vehicle pulled onto the shoulder of the road you can bet there’s an animal involved. So our truck has attracted other wildlife enthusiasts who are also snapping away. Sunshine, warm weather, friendly conversation, just another perfect day in Alaska!

Earlier in the week we had seen another pair of swans on a different pond. We saw them at about 9:00 pm. The sun was very low in the sky, just peeking over the mountains to the west. I snapped this photo as the swan stretched his 10 foot wingspan. 

I think more than anything else, it’s these intimate moments with wildlife that make Alaska so amazing for me.