Swans

On March 4, 2008 we had to bring our daughter to the dentist in Penticton. We live in Oliver which is 45 mins from Penticton. We pass Vaseaux lake and every year they come to the lake just before spring and just before winter. I'm always looking for them when we go to Penticton. This year I manage to get some pictures of them.

When we got back from Penticton, and I decided to show my mom the pictures. I pull out my digital camera and used my recorders that hook into the TV so we could see how they looked.

At first I thought there was something wrong with the one swan in picture B. It had a black thing around its neck. So I called the wildlife group of BC they gave me another number to call. They gave me the number to Environment Canada Wildlife Enforcement Branch.

The Lady I spoke to asked me to send her the picture thought e-mail so that she could see what was happening to the swan. She wanted to make sure that no one had hurt it. Swans are on the endangered list so they are always keeping an eye on them.

After she saw the picture she sent them to a Wildlife Officer to review. The wildlife officer reviewed the picture and said that he felt it was a type of tag that is used to keep track of the bird and to identify them. This is done by the Canadian Wildlife Service.

The first lady that I talked to E-mail me again to tell me that she would call the Canadian Wildlife Service to confirm.

She did E-mail me again and replied " this swan most likely was banded in Alaska."

I was relieved that the swan was okay. BC is quite far a way from Alaska. To think how far that bird had come was amazing. The best thing about this, is that I saw the swan. Now I know when I see them with this black color not to worry because it is a way of keeping track of them.

By Juanita Fraser