(Oh, yeah. The day-old trumpeter swan cygnets were posed for a photo op by biologist Martha Jordan while I was taking their baby pictures in her back yard. They can't climb much, in fact they spent a lot of time lodged upside-down squeaking under tree roots in the garden. The cynets were in transit to a breeding program in the Midwest.)

Catering to Deviant Biking Motivations

The Fabulous Erin and Bill Woods have provided local cyclists with directions on wonderful rides and tours for years. Battered, bled-upon volumes of their Bicycling the Backroads books (published by The Mountaineers) are featured in most cyclists' libraries and panniers. We love and rely on these books, but where the Woods seem to go for beautiful scenery and safe riding conditions and rustic attractions, some of us look for big gravelly hills, or the adrenaline thrill of hostile traffic, or cows to moo at, or a good destination bakery. Our first "Beyond the Woods" column which caters to deviant biking motivations is "How to Find Really Big Rare White Birds From Your Bike."

This ride has everything: easy freeway access, flat rural riding in the Skagit Valley, Trumpeter and Tundra Swans, and if you arrange your trip right, a stop at the Conway Tavern for a burger with the ballgame crowd, or LaConner without the tourists. It's also a good pre-season shakedown for Spring Tulip-Peepers.

Trumpeter and Tundra Swans migrate south from their summer homes in Alaska and start making an appearance in November in the Skagit Valley. Their numbers peak about January and they have pretty much gone back home by the end of March. They spend their winter days in sociable groups in old corn, potato and carrot fields, and their nights out in Skagit Bay, Clear Lake, and Bay Slough.

Because Trumpeter Swans weigh about 25 pounds and have 8-foot wingspans, they are easy to see against the muddy ground, and just about anywhere else. Trumpeters have a call like a trumpet, with the same tonal quality as badly-played bagpipes. Its smaller cousin the Tundra Swan has a higher-pitched honk. Swans greet each other with musical wing-waggling and head-bobbing displays. The two species often mingle together in the same flocks. While out looking for birds you might encounter the Snow Goose which is also white, much smaller and has black wing tips.

Trumpeter Swan Society's web site has more ID pictures, audio files and other very cool stuff. Ditto the Washington Swan Coalition.

For an ID sheet on Swans, send an SASE to

Martha Jordan
14112 1st Avenue W
Everett, WA 98208
425-787-0258

When Tundra and Trumpeter swans aren't wintering in the wetlands and fields of the northern contiguous United States, they breed in the far north. Sometimes they are captured and collared with numbered bands. If you see a collared bird and you have a good scope, try to read the numbers and letters and make a note of the color of the neckband. This information is of great value to biologists who follow their migrations and wintering habits in order to better protect them.

Birding Basics: Take binoculars and any good bird field guide, like Peterson's or Audubon. When you find birds, don't do anything at all to annoy them; wildlife harassment is illegal, and Valley residents tend to be protective of their feathered neighbors. If the birds' heads are down and you want to see them, wait quietly for them to look up. They will eventually. Don't go onto private property or down private roads to see them. Wonderful things happen for the polite birder.

I'm about to get myself into major trouble here if I don't preface my tips for telling Trumpeter swans from Tundra swans. Any good birder will be loathe to "guess" at the species until any number of field markings are clearly observed. So say to yourself, when making use of each identifying feature, "This isn't necessarily indicative. This doesn't always occur in the species. Anomalies pop up all the time." Then just go out there and take a shot at a good guess.

A good friend of mine tells me that the difference between a novice and experienced birder is that the experienced birder won't say his guesses out loud. Makes him look wiser. That said:

You may notice a reddish color on some birds. This is rust stain from iron in the water they dabble in. Both swans are pretty much have white plumage when given the chance. Also, don't get too carried away if you see pink-billed adults... sticking their beaks in the mud sometimes gives them that appearance.

November through late February. Go earlier in the day, before the wind picks up, or just before sunset as they fly low, rustling and honking overhead as they head back to the Bays. On those rare days when snow covers the fields, you won't find any swans there, but riding on packed snow is still nice and there are numerous other bird species out there which will be easily spotted.

Take I-5 North from Seattle to Skagit County. Make up the route to suit your own ambitions, avoiding Chuckanut drive. Start your ride in Conway, or Mt. Vernon, or LaConner, and park politely. Choose your route keeping in mind that once you're out there, there are few places to get out of the cold, and that the dikes can only be crossed in a few places. Jensen Access is a particularly nice place to look for waterfowl.

They seem to dig potato and carrot fields. One year Martha and I were counting birds after the Skagit Valley flooded, and found carrots all over the roads. Made for very slick driving.

A European import, the Mute swan is a deleterious species and is being discreetly eradicated. This invader has an aggressive character and usurps the territory of the Trumpeter and Tundra swan.

Snow geese (all white except for black wingtips, much smaller than swans) are both hilarious and thrilling to see. They gather in gigantic flocks of thousands in fields, and fly by the thousands to the water around sunset. They honk all the time which is a wonderful sound. Stand at Jensen access (it's cold there... take a thermos of something you like) and they fly so low you can sometime hear their feathers squeaking in flight.

As you ride along next to irrigation ditches, you may inadvertently flush out Great Blue Herons, and it is a truly thrilling sight to see the gangly huge silent things rising out of the mist in impossibly slow motion. Look on posts and powerlines for owls, eagles and hawks; you may also see the Rough-legged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Peregrine Falcon and the Northern Harrier. Young eagles will sometimes just stand around on the ground waiting for rodents to happen by. Look in trees for the dark forms of birds of prey. (The Skagit valley is where the ambitious birder can achieve the elusive Five Falcon Day; that is, spotting a Peregrine falcon, Prairie falcon, Merlin, Kestrel and a Gyrfalcon within 24 hours.) Look in the waterways for roosting birds. Wigeons and Mallards can be seen in sloughs and flooded fields, and with some luck, Bitterns can be spotted in ditches, pointy beaks straight up.

Thus challenged, I phoned Martha to find out where the hell the 1800 enormous white birds had gone to, and she informed me that my two remaining brain cells had obviously frozen together into one or I would have known that the swans are all in the waterways, because "If you were a swan would it make any sense for you sit around all day in a field full of snow where there's nothing to eat?"

I did manage to finally salvage my small reputation with the two Great Blue Herons which all but perched on our handlebars just outside of Conway.