Wednesday 29 October 2014

A Skein of Swans

A skein of sixty swans flew high over the Sound of Mull yesterday, heading almost west as if they were making for Coll or Tiree.

They were led by a swan who powered ahead of the rest, and it may have been him/her who was responsible for the occasional honking call that drew our attention to their passing.  They were too high to be able to identify the species, but they may have been whoopers, except....

....a close look at the upper arm of the formation revealed two smaller birds hitching a ride, perhaps geese.  So.... fifty-eight swans and two geese flew over.

4 comments:

  1. V interesting Jon, maybe pink-footed geese travelling down with Whoopers from similar breeding grounds...

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  2. Hi Ewan - Do they overwinter on Coll/Tiree, or do they continue on south?

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  3. It's a skein ae geese and a wedge ae swans... ;-) Ben

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  4. So this was a 'skeinwedge ae geeswans'. Jon

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