Trumpeter Swan Videos

Trumpeter Swans flying over the refuge

Back in December (2014), I posted several times on Trumpeter Swans that were at the Squaw Creek NWR in northwest Missouri. At that time, I captured a few videos of the swans. However, due to having extremely slow internet at home, I could not upload them for sharing. On my current “Wintering Bald Eagles” photo workshop, we have had super internet and I’ve found some time in the late evenings to upload a couple of swan videos (these videos are not high quality … my videographic skills are not well honed, but I’m posting them for the behavioral aspect of the beautiful swans, not for the video quality).

Trumpeter Swans are a favorite bird of mine and I look forward to being able to spend some time photographing them every fall. One of their behaviors I always look forward to is their pre-flight ritual of “trumpeting” (honking in a sound that resembles a trumpet) and the “head-bob”. In this first video, a small family of Trumpeter Swans are head-bobbing as they prepare to launch:

http://youtu.be/VhFMMVOVcss

As soon as I stopped recording the head-bob, they immediately began their take-off, “running across the water” as they gained enough speed to take flight:

http://youtu.be/sPANkhMy8jM

Videos were captured with my Canon 7D SLR body + Canon 500mm, f/4 IS telephoto lens + Canon 1.4x TC, all mounted on my Bogen 3221 tripod + Wemberly Gimbal head.

Today is my last day of the “Wintering Bald Eagle” photo workshop. After a short day of completing our photography of the wintering bald eagles of the Mississippi River, we will head home. I may not be able to prepare a post for tomorrow, but I’ll try to get something out.  :o)

 

 

Posted in Bird Photography, Nature Photography, Travel Photography, Video
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