Mute Swans Taking Flight

One of my favorite birds to photograph are Mute Swans taking off. Between the flapping, splashing and the noise of flapping wings against the water and sound of their wings as they go by. Also it takes quite a bit of space for them to actually get airborne, so lots of photo opportunities if you are in the right spot.

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Territorial Mute Swans

The pair of Mute swans that flew in after the Immature Mute Swan that flew in a few weeks ago really seem to keep after him. They seem to continually go after him chasing him around the small lake. It seems that they can ignore him for a while then all of a sudden fly across the lake to go after him. But it does supply action sequences for photos! It is amazing to see such large birds flapping around, give quite a show.

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Moving in to start the chase.

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They’re Off

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Getting Closer!

Pair of Mute Swans Portrait

This pair of Mute Swans arrived at the small lake where the Immature Mute Swan from one of the earlier blogs. They do not seem to like having the immature Mute Swan on the same lake as they are territorial and seem to keep chasing him around. Which does give many opportunities for photos. I made this vertical portrait of the new pair as they were swimming together close by me. I also shot quite a few horizontal shots but had to shoot 2 shot handheld panoramas because they were too close to fit them both in the frame at one time.mute swans pair cf v3

Mute Swan Pair

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Heads Or Tails

I like to photograph Swans. One – They are Large! Two – they allow you to get Close! Three  – They are fun to photograph. Four – They are Large (again). Easy to get frame filling photos. They allow you to get close. Between their antics between pairs,  seeing babies on their backs swimming by, their action going after other birds too close to their nest. It can go on and on. Also if you get a bunch fly by you, the sound of the Woosh from their wingbeats is cool sounding. Also watching them flapping like crazy getting airborne is fun to photograph.

 

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Mute Swan Babies with Mom

Mute Swan Take-Off

Mute Swans are a large heavy bird, so it takes a while for them to take-off. I was going through files from the archives and thought this was interesting. I usually see them from a side view taking off. So when this one took off heading towards me, it was a great different view. The splashing, feet flapping and the distance it took to get into the air was amazing. Then it made a pass in front of me with the wings making that cool whooshing sound. I liked the early morning light backlighting the wings!

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Splashing Mute Swan

I was going through my archives and found these photos of a Mute Swan splashing in the water. It was splashing for quite a while. Here are a few images from that sequence.

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Splashing Mute Swan. Canon EOS 1D MkIII, Canon 400mm f/4 ID DO lens, Canon 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11 @ 1/2000 sec to stop action, -1 stop exposure compensation because of white Swan in Bright sunlight, ISO 400. Same exposure for all images. These are just a few out the 100 images or so in a 4 minute time frame.

 

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Mute Swans Landing

This is the same group of Mute Swans from the previous post. After they flew in front of me they landed in the water to my left. I like photographing Swans for many reasons. The First is they are a large subject so easier to fill the frame than small birds. Second, they can get quite animated when swimming around with others, especially a mate, showing different postures and interactions. Third, is they are really cool to hear flying if they are close to you, quite a whooshing  sound as they go by, especially if you get 5 or more in a low pass. Forth, if a rival male comes in to an area they are nesting, you can get quite a few action shots, with them trying to protect their area. No 5, they are fun to photograph in sequences if they are taking off from water, flapping their feet against the water in their long take-off runs. My list can go on & on, but I will add to it later with other images.

Mute Swans From Brigantine

Mute Swans from Brigantine Div. of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.