Three Cygnets with Mother Swan on Nest

Swans are thought to mate for life. Swan couples prefer to build their nests close by to where they nested last year if their previous years hatching was successful. The female Swan chooses the location for the nest. The male Swan defends the nest from predators and helps the female build the nest. Nests are usually surrounded by water to deter predators. Alice, three years, ago spotted a Swan couple building a nest six miles from our house. Over six weeks, we trekked through a forest every couple of days to observe our Swan couples nest building progress through our Zeiss binoculars. As Cygnet hatching time became imminent, we startedbackpacking in our high-powered lenses. A Canon EF 800 and a Canon EF 200 to 400 mm 1.4 extender to 560mm. These lenses are long, frustratingly heavy, but are marvelously tac sharp with the most beautiful Brokah. (Brokah: a focus fade from tac sharp in the image center to a pleasingly progressive "blurring" to the outside of the image and always with rich