A week before this picture, I was looking at four Trumpeter Swans in the same open water. I did not have my camera gear on-hand, so I watched them take off and circle the water before gaining enough altitude to fly away. Then a few hours later, three trumpeters came down in the same area. I had my camera with me this time, but the three decided to stick around. A week later, I spotted the other species of swan we see here during migration, Tundra Swans. Unlike the Trumpeter Swans, who have a much broader latitude in terms of where they nest. The Tundra Swans nest on arctic tundra. We get to see both species passing through Banff NP during spring migration and sometimes during the fall as well.
As soon as I saw the Tundra Swans about 100 meters from me, some of them were bobbing their heads up and down, they wanted to fly. But it took them about fifteen minutes to reach a consensus, they all moved to the very east of the water and started flapping their wings and running on the water. Due to the heavy winds from the west, they were quickly in the air. I got this picture when they were deciding whether to go left or right with the snow-covered mountain range in the background. For a few weeks, I was trying to get a black and white picture of the swans and the snow in the background. Having them in the air was a bonus.
