We usually only see Tundra Swans in early spring migration. Today I drove along rural farming roads east of Hockley hoping to see them.

Success!! These large swans are a medium-distance migrant. They migrate south from Arctic breeding grounds in mid-September. Birds breeding in western Alaska, move to estuaries from Vancouver Island to northern California and inland sites from southern Idaho to the southern Colorado River. Those breeding in eastern Alaska winter in the eastern Great Lakes and all along the East Coast, with the majority wintering in the coastal mid-Atlantic.

Their melancholy, clear singing with a hooting or barking quality makes it easy to find them.

Cedar Waxwings are nomads and can turn up in any month of the year. I had a large group today:

A Red-tailed Hawk was keeping an eye on them but they eventually ganged up on it forcing it to flee.

Other birds:

Views in the area:

MAILBOX

Hi Miles,

Such a wonderful development. 😊

America’s Bald Eagle Population Has Quadrupled !!

America’s Bald Eagle Population Has Quadrupled – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

NATURE POETRY

Once more, and yet once more,
Returning as before,
We see the bloom of birth
Make young again the earth.                     – Nora Perry (1831–96)

Miles Hearn