One of my favourite books as a child was E. B. White’s Trumpet of the Swan. When we landed in Whitehorse last week, the first thing I spotted was a large cut-out of a white swan at the side of the Alaska Highway that said “Swan Haven Open!”
That’s right, trumpeter swans!
They’re gathering in the Whitehorse area, waiting for their various nesting grounds to thaw.
The lovely Rebecca’s mother, Mary, is a Yukoner who knows all about birds. She told us that a couple of scouts fly ahead each day to see if the nesting grounds are ready, and if they are, they don’t return, signaling the rest to follow. If the ground is still frozen, they return to the group and the waiting continues.
We had one part of one day to get out of town before my writerly obligations began in earnest, and so we took off towards Tagish, with hopes of seeing these majestic birds. I told Esmé that we were going on an adventure to see if we could find the trumpeter swans, but I wasn’t sure if we would. Or if we’d see them in the far off distance, no bigger than wee white spots on a snowy horizon.
We hit the trumpeter swan jackpot! We saw one pair, then another. Then as we crossed the bridge in Tagish, we saw dozens. We turned back and had a picnic by the river, keeping a respectful distance so as not to disturb them.
“Duh! Duh!” Hawk proclaimed, which is his word for ‘duck.’ ”Duh!”
“Swans, baby,” Esmé corrected.
“Duh!”
“Swans”
We hardly noticed the cold as we watched the graceful birds glide along the water, dip their heads under to feed, and turn their tufty white bums skyward. And the trumpet song … it really does sound like a trumpet!
Okay, we did notice the cold. But still, it was a glorious day! What a magical and unforgettable afternoon.
And what book did we pull off the shelf when we got home? My fusty old copy of Trumpet of the Swan. I’m enjoying it again, and Esmé is enjoying it for the first time. Only, she knows exactly what a trumpeter swan looks and sounds like. We took home a beautiful poster of a trumpeter swan standing in water (free from the visitor’s centre in Whitehorse … thanks, Yukon government!), and it’s now on the wall in the under-the-stairs hidey hole.
“Duh!” Hawk announces when he sees it.
“Swan!” Esmé says. ”It’s a swan, baby.”
It’s just plain awesome, I think. Truly awesome.
