Three mute swan cygnets huddle together before taking a nap.

A trumpeter swan fans its beautiful wings in the afternoon sun of a late winter day earlier this year. The snowy-white plumage of the trumpeter swan is stunning, along with the six foot wingspan of our largest native waterfowl in North America.

Two trumpeter swans pass each other while leisurely paddling around a lake earlier this year. For those familiar with Dr. Dolittle, the pushmi-pullyu is a gazelle/unicorn cross with two heads at opposite ends of its body. Using your imagination, you could see these two swans as a type of pushmi-pullyu swan due to the angle of the capture. But, just in our imagination . . .

Two Trumpeter Swans bank to the south during the golden hour of an early March evening. They were so beautiful and graceful as they flew a couple of circles over a lake in McHenry County, Illinois.

Trumpeter Swans are the largest native waterfowl in North America so it is no surprise that they need up to a hundred yards of water to taxi and takeoff. They typically bob their heads up and down and honk a bit right before they are ready to go, and these two swans in McHenry County, Illinois were no exception in early March as I watched them gather at the north end of the lake so they could take off into the south wind . . .

A trumpeter swan stretches its wings in a shallow lake in McHenry County Illnois earlier this week. There is a family of 6 trumpeters along with a few others that have made themselves at home, and are enjoying a warmer than normal winter.