ML43290501

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

This family groups of two adult and three immature Tundra Swans was photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 20 December 2016 as they flew overhead between the Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge headquarters and Rock Hill, south end Salton Sea, Imperial County, California. I am not sure who initially found these birds today, but we saw this them afternoon after Guy McCaskie had called me to alert me that they were coming our way.

Observation details

After getting a call from Guy McCaskie noting that these birds were headed in our direction, we saw two adult and three immature swans as they flew in from the south and looping around to the north of us before dropping down to the northeast of our position; the adults were all white, the young birds clouded with gray on the uppersides of the wings and maybe also the heads and necks, but they seemed more extensively white than I would expect from young Trumpeter Swans. I saw what appeared to be black bills on at least the adults, but it was impossible to see fine details given our distance from birds that were seen exclusively in flight. These were conspicuously large birds with long, slim necks that were held outstretched, small heads, wedge-shaped bills, plump bodies, short tails, and moderately long wings that tapered to broadly pointed tips, and flying with relatively slow wing-beats.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

400

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/2500 sec

Dimensions

3287 pixels x 2172 pixels

Original file size

1.31 MB