On Thursday I went out to Bob Heirman Park in Snohomish County at about
8am. There were several hundred swans on Shadow lake and they were gearing
up for the day with a wonderful concert of honks and neck bobbing. It was
foggy and the swans drifted in and out of view but I just shut my eyes and
stood and enjoyed the concert. Every once and while one of them would do a
variation on the trumpet theme making for a quick solo. The wigeons added
their pip pips and the mallards held down a low muttering of quacks. Taken
all together it was a glorious jazz performance. There was a natural rhythm
to the calls which made it all that more musical. As groups would take off
in the fog for the days foraging, their wings beating against the water
sounding appropriately like applause.

Later I ran into a short-eared owl which was roosting on the south side of
the large cedar in the field. Along the river, an otter popped up rather
close for a howdy, then submerged again for parts unknown. There were three
dead crows along the river, all very decomposed, black feather splashes on
the cobbles and sand. And as always, there was a cornucopia of tracks along
the silt and mud of the bar to puzzle out and wonder.

On a sad note, Martha Jordan recovered another dead swan from the lake. I
hope for a day when lead shot is no longer within the reach of those
magnificent bills.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
Snohomish County, WA