Swans, Geese and Swan Geese

I took a walk down by the lake to see how winter was treating the birds and the trees. It reminded me how much I love that place in this season- it's so quiet and peaceful this time of year. There are no dogs barking, few people around and just tranquility with lots of interesting bird watching.

A comorant was sitting on a stump drying his wings and looking for fish. I spied up two bald eagles in a tree across the water, then I found these odd looking geese. I took plenty of pictures to try to identify them as I'd never seen anything like them at the lake before. Turns out they are called Chinese Swan Geese- pets actually. They are not native to the US and many people keep them as "watch geese". I felt sad that they may have been left down there to fend for themselves, but then I was comforted by a different thought...maybe they escaped to enjoy the lake and to be free and wild! Whatever the case, they had a couple of ducks to keep them company and all four seemed quite happy. By the time I left, it was nap time and I thought it was darling how they curled their heads inside their feathers to settle in for a "long winters nap". It was a great day for a snooze.