In a message dated 1/1/2005 9:19:58 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
 writes:

Enjoy  the swan at Black Hill Regional Park. Please document it, photos are  
desirable. Any documentation will be added to our files on this species,  
but will probably not be reviewed for a while. This message explains  why.

Notes and thoughts ...



Phil,
 I finished up my area of the Sugarloaf count earlier than I expected,  so 
with camera in hand headed up to Black Hill. The swan was sitting on a bank  
across from the Rt. 121 bridge sleeping when I arrived about 11:15 or so, and  
remained motionless for quite some time, with its head tucked into its wing.  
Pictures from this distance were not good, so I parked further down the road and 
 walked in via a park service road, then out along the 2nd "neck" of land, 
trying  to gain a better advantage on the bird. I got about 2/3 of the way 
closer, and  shot about 4 dozen digi-scope pics of the bird (the light wasn't too 
good  however), resting, sitting with head up and alert, standing, and finally 
in the  water swimming. I got some fairly good head shots which show the bill 
length and  shape, etc. (no yellow that I could see), and a couple of it 
standing showing  leg color. The face has a nice hint of yellowish-tan along the 
cheeks and lower  back of the nape. The bill appears rather long and straight, 
but the shape of  the bill where it meets the feathers of the side of the face 
can change in each  photo from nice and straight, to slightly curved. I did 
not see any hint of a  reddish edge to the lower bill (like the snow goose grin 
patch), just all black. 
 
I can't say one way or the other if this is a Trumpeter Swan or a  
"trumpling", but I got many pretty good photos which eventually will come your  way. 
They were taken with a new Nikon 5400 and we haven't uploaded the software  yet, 
so it may be a while. We did view them on our TV though, and they look  good. 
Some should be of use to the records committee. Can I put them on a CD and  
send that to you? 
 
Rick Sussman
Ashton,MD
 (mailto:[log in to unmask]) 
 
P.S. It was interesting to see this bird sleeping on the bank of the lake  in 
the woods, as I have never seen a Tundra Swan do this  here.