Trumpeter Swans - Central Arkansas

Arkansas is right in the middle of a major migration flyway for Swans, Geese, and Ducks.  Snow Geese  are plentiful and flocks of 10,000 plus are fairly common but Trumpeter Swans are rare and not a widespread visitor to Arkansas.  In researching areas to photograph waterfowl, my wife ran across a wildlife area in central Arkansas called Magness Lake Wildlife Refuge.  Magness Lake is privately owned but open to the public.  It is near the town of Heber Springs.  We decided to visit to photograph the swans.

The story of the Magness Lake swans is that many years ago the swans were blown off course by a storm and they landed in Magness Lake.  They stayed and wintered there and have been returning ever since that first winter.

When we arrived at Magness Lake we found a flock of about 75 Trumpeter Swans and a large number of Ring-Necked Ducks.  There were 15-20 people viewing the Swans and feeding them cracked corn.  The Swans were very acclimated to people and were very close so getting close-up images was easy with any lens in the 200mm range.  Unfortunately, the viewing area was at a spot where the ground dropped off about 3-5 feet plus the property owners had installed a fence that was about 4 feet high to keep people out of the water.  The result was a high shooting angle so most of the images were of swans and water.  Not too many options for backgrounds unless you shot swans that were at a distance out in the lake.  The other side of the lake was an open field so again, the background options were limited and generally uninteresting.

They are beautiful birds but the limited shooting options resulted in rather uninteresting compositions.

After a couple of hours of waiting for anything to happen, a bird to land or take off, light to change, a fight to break out, ANYTHING!!, I figured out that these birds were pretty content and well fed. 

I got a break when one of the locals mentioned that there were several more lakes where swans and other birds were wintering.

As soon as I learned about the existence of the other lakes, I packed up and began a search for more photogenic locations.  Good move!  It turns out that there were two other lakes and both had swans and ducks with no barriers to the birds and much better backgrounds.  The birds were still somewhat acculimated to people but they were much more active and as it got later in the day the birds became even more active.

As the light began to get lower and warmer, the birds became more vocal.  There was a steady breeze and I noticed that a group of birds was gathering in a corner of the lake that was downwind.  They became very vocal and as a group they started bobbing their heads in unison.  It looked like they were getting ready to take off so I got ready for the event--just in time!

What a magnificant creature!  These birds, while honking at the top of their lungs, began to run across the water into the wind.  They quickly left the water, flew low over the lake, gained altitude and circled over the lake again before flying off to points unknown.  Over the next hour most of the flock of about 75 birds flew off in small groups.

The birds that stayed behind were aggressive in staking out space.  I left around dark and at that time there were still 20-30 swans at the lake.

If you ever have an opportunity to visit Arkansas in winter, the Heber Springs area is worth a visit to see the wintering Trumpeter Swans.  The two lakes were I got the best images are also privately owned.  I photographed the birds during two visits and on the second visit I met the owner of the lakes.  He is very generous in sharing his property with the public and allowing open access to the swans.