There is nothing graceful about the way Tundra Swans splash down and they have a bit of a kerfuffle if another swan is in their landing path. In the end, no swans were hurt. This time.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
December 25, 2025
Tundra Swans continue to return to South Carolina’s Bear Island Wildlife Management Area each winter. We photographed them this year for the first time since 2020 and were fortunate to go on day that was in the low 70s (21C).
Many of the Swans were towards the middle of Mary’s House Pond giving us a decent view as they moved around.
All that flapping and splashing gives a good audio cue that take off is about to happen.
This duo got further and further apart as they lifted off.
Repeating myself from a 2018 post, these swans can weigh up to 23 pounds (10 Kilos) so getting into the air takes a huge effort and considerable runway distance.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
December 25, 2025
Busking not as in a street performance, but a threat display or the same posture used for “wind-assisted transportation” per Wikipedia.
The wind assist was not something I’ve seen described elsewhere, but there was a stiff breeze this day. Two Mute Swans were traveling the length of this 600 foot (185M) long pond in no time, so it would not surprise me.
A water performance and no tips expected, the Mute Swans at Middleton Place were very entertaining.
One Black Australian Swan pair had a single cygnet on my recent visit to Swan Lake and Iris Gardens.
The youngster was all about practicing his swimming skills.
He didn’t get too far from the parents, who were quick to catch up with him if he paddled off.
Just a little ball of fluff, he exhibited no concern about forging ahead.
Owned and operated by the City of Sumter, SC, Swan Lake Iris Gardens is home to all eight known species of swan.
The cygnets were learning how to feed, sticking their heads in the water imitating their parents who were pulling vegetation up from the pond floor. The were each in constant motion, turning and dunking, making a family portrait a real challenge.
The three cygnets mostly stayed together.
This fellow started off on his own but quickly turned back to the group.
Owned and operated by the City of Sumter, SC, Swan Lake Iris Gardens is home to all eight known species of swan.
We went back to Bear Island Wildlife Management Area for another try at seeing the Tundra Swans taking off from their overnight resting spot. We couldn’t get very close but we did get to see, and hear, a few.
These swans can weigh up to 23 pounds (10 Kilos) so getting into the air takes a huge effort and considerable runway distance.
The noise of the flapping of their wings echoing across the pond first alerted me. The ducks and other swans behind them paid no attention.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, 1/24/2018
The real reason we headed out early yesterday morning was not for the sunrise of my last post, but to see the Tundra Swans take off. We did not get to see where they spent the night or lift off but did catch them in air well after the sun was up.
Around three hundred Tundra Swans are known to winter within South Carolina’s Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, likely descendants of a group that first came here in the 1970s with a flock of Canada Geese.
The Swans flew over us in small groups, mostly headed down the coast. During the day they spread out through the ACE Basin (Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto River Basin), 350,000 acres of mostly marshes and wetlands, to feed. They return to Bear Island WMA each night.
The Tundra Swans will leave SC by early March headed toward their breeding grounds in the Arctic.
This Trumpeter Swan made a good photography subject as he slowly paddled between the Cypress trees.
The reflections from these massive trees made up for the lack of light making it through to the water.
Blowing bubbles next to shore entertained him for awhile. Perhaps this action stirs up some food along with the mud that gave him a dirty ring around the water line.
