I have had the oppurtunity this past month to photograph Whistling Swans.A short 20 minute drive from home is a lovely park called Fielding Park The park borders  the West end of a lake where a small river runs out.A stretch of this river is open and it is here that you will find 6 of these large Swans.There is also a very large population of Mallards and Black Ducks.The waterfowl are feed every morning by local folks with corn.

The above Swan is named Goofy and she is the most humanized of the Swans.She will come up to me and lay down beside me.This allowed me to capture the above photo from very close range.I shot tight so that your eve will follow the valley between the wings up to the eve and beak.An interesting note is the small feather sticking up by here beak is a result of here breathing.I also wanted to emphasize  the very fine detail of the feathers the Swans have.Goofy also has 2 large yellow tags on here wings that I did not want in the photo.The zoom was set at 132 mm and the shutter speed at 1/500 sec @ f10

The other thing that I look for is various patterns when I am photographing these Swans.They have such beautiful long graceful necks that can create beautiful forms as you photograph.This pair created an inverted T along with nicely arched necks.You will also noticed that there is some feathers out of place that helps to add depth to the photo.I shot the above photo with a zoom setting of 130 mm and the shutter speed set at 1/500 @f13.

You will also notice a piece of ice sticking up from the bill of the Swan in the foreground.The temperature most mornings was -25 C with a wind blowing.

As I was standing on the shore trying to stay warm, I watched the above pair of Swans grooming.The next thing I saw was they were one behind the other creating a  neat pattern that I shot in vertical.The dark colored water allows the Swans to stand out.When I talk about patterns this is a pattern at its best.These Swans have yellow in there heads that add contrast to the photo.I shot the above photo with a zoom setting of 65 mm and the shutter speed set to 1/125 sec @ f10.

I will continue this series on the Swans next week and  until then happy trails.