The Swan
by Kathy White
Title
The Swan
Artist
Kathy White
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
On a recent visit to a lake in Dallas, Texas, we were watching others feeding the ducks, coots, and seagulls, when all the sudden this beautiful swam came into view. Well, I got all excited! I had never photographed a white swan before, only the black necked swan.
I love white swans! I have collected swan things through the years. My husband remarked how big it was! He said it was gigantic next to those little black coots. The swans are the largest members of the waterfowl family Anatidae, and are among the largest flying birds. The largest species, including the mute swan, trumpeter swan, and whooper swan, can reach length of over 1.5 m (60 inches) and weigh over 15 kg (33 pounds). Their wingspans can be almost 3 m (10 ft). Compared to the closely related geese they are much larger in size and have proportionally larger feet and necks. They also have a patch of unfeathered skin between the eyes and bill in adults. The sexes are alike in plumage, but males are generally bigger and heavier than females.
Although most birds generally do not have teeth, swans are known to be an exception to this, having small jagged 'teeth' as part of their beaks used for catching and eating fish.
I think we followed that swan as it swam all over our side of the lake. The swan was constantly feeding on the plants under the water's edge. In the water, food is obtained by up-ending or dabbling, and their diet is composed of the roots, tubers, stems and leaves of aquatic and submerged plants. So many times, as he brought his head back up out of the water, there was water drooling from its mouth. In the majority of my photos, he looks like he is slobbering....which I did not think was a graceful as I had always imagined. Ha! Nonetheless, I still couldn't take my eyes off this beautiful creature! It literally made my day!
Uploaded
November 25th, 2012
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Comments (12)
Kathy White
Thank you to Maria Wall for featuring The Swan in The Photographers Cafe group! I really appreciated it!
Kathy White
Much thanks to Nadine and Bob Johnston for featuring The Swan in our group USA Artist News and the online art magazine. Thanks for all you do!
Kathy White
Thank you so much Sue Jenkins for the vote and the nice comments. My husband commented as we were taking the photos of the other ducks and then the swan swam in, "Wow, here comes the mother ship!" :) The swan's presence definitely made an impression!
Sue Jenkins
Kathy this is a great shot I love the position the swan is in and he seems to be watching you. The duck in the background gives scale to the swans size. The flow in the water gives the photo some movement. I found this in Caught My Eye in the Art Shoppe Cafe, Voted
Kathy White
Thank you so much John, for your compliments, but also for always going to extra measures to help others promote their artwork too! :)
JOHN TELFER
Kathy, Fantastic up close image of this gorgeous swan. Great details in the beak and body of the swan and the way you can see the water dripping from the swan into the water. Remarkable color captures as that orange beak really sticks out along with the black covering of the eyes and the black tip at the end of the beak.. Love the details in the water of what looks like choppy waters. Fantastic photo, voted, tweet, FB and Google promoted and chosen as my Image that Caught My Eye today in the promotional thread in the Art Shoppe Cafe group
Kathy White
Thank you so much Margaret....and thank you for the vote!! I love swans and this was my first time to photograph a white swan!
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