Preening Swan with Berries
by Janette Boyd
Title
Preening Swan with Berries
Artist
Janette Boyd
Medium
Photograph - Photo/texture
Description
Photo of a preening trumpeter swan near Swan Lake in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Texture of red berries over lake added to original image of swan on fall grasses near the lake using Corel Paint Photoshop to blend two images.
Featured in the following FAA Groups:
*Images that Excite You
*The World We See
*Beauty
*Out of the Ordinary
*Wildlife One a Day
The trumpeter swan is the largest extant species of waterfowl. Adults usually measure 138x165 cm (4 ft 6 in to 5 ft 5 in) long, though large males can range up to 180 cm (71 in) or more in total length. The weight of adult birds is typically 7 to 13.6 kg (15 to 30 lb), with an average weight in males of 11.9 kg (26 lb) and 9.4 kg (21 lb) in females. The wingspan ranges from 185 to 250 cm (6 ft 1 in to 8 ft 2 in), with the wing chord measuring 60-68 cm (24-27 in) The largest known male Trumpeter attained a length of 183 cm (6 ft 0 in), a wingspan of 3.1 m (10 ft 2 in) and a weight of 17.2 kg (38 lb).
The adult trumpeter swan is all white in plumage. As with a whooper swan, this species has upright posture and generally swims with a straight neck. The trumpeter swan has a large, wedge-shaped black bill that can, in some cases, be minimally lined with salmon-pink coloration around the mouth. The bill, measuring 10.5 to 12 cm (4.1 to 4.7 in), is up to twice the length of a Canada Goose's (Branta canadensis) bill and is the largest of any waterfowl. The legs are gray-pink in color, though in some birds can appear yellowish gray to even black. The tarsus measures 10.5 to 12 cm (4.1 to 4.7 in). The cygnets (juveniles) are grey in appearance, becoming white after the first year.
Their breeding habitat is large shallow ponds, undisturbed lakes, pristine wetlands and wide slow rivers, and marshes in northwestern and central North America, with the largest numbers of breeding pairs found in Alaska. They prefer nesting sites with enough space for them to have enough surface water for them to take off, as well as accessible food, shallow, unpolluted water, and little or no human disturbance. Trumpeter swans often mate for life, and both parents participate in raising their young, but primarily the female incubates the eggs. Most pair bonds are formed when swans are 4 to 7 years old, although some pairs do not form until they are nearly 20 years old. "Divorces" have been known between birds, in which case the mates will be serially monogamous, with mates in differing breeding seasons. Occasionally, if his mate dies, a male trumpeter swan may not pair again for the rest of his life.
Uploaded
September 3rd, 2014
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Comments (8)
Venetia Featherstone-Witty
This is a fabulous image - love the texture that makes it loo like a painting! L/F
Val Arie
This is so pretty Janette! Such an unexpected view seems very intimate and so wonderfully processed!
Lyric Lucas
Congratulations your creative and unique art work is featured in the "Out Of The Ordinary" group!