Hundreds of Trumpeter Swans!

Anne had MLK Day off and I took it off too, just because. The weather for this January holiday weekend has been simply fabulous. Martin would be pleased with it too, but who wouldn’t. Even if we did spend his day eyeing honking honky birds. Sunday we did the old loop-de-loop bicycle ride in Forest Park. We saw Bill the Mad Doctor. He was going the opposite way. Today, we took Joanie to the Riverlands. I don’t think that she has ever been there before with me. It was pretty quiet, except for one small section of Ellis Bay. The main channel of the Mississippi was relatively ice-free and there was no ice to be seen on the Missouri, but this back bay was still pretty much frozen over. Except for relatively small pools that the hundreds of trumpeter swans and some Canada geese have kept open. The trumpeter swan is the largest waterfowl in North America. The bird sighting board in the Audubon Center had sightings of 200+ swans, both today and yesterday. Click on the photo, it really is quite large. Looking at it, I estimate that there were closer to 500 swans. When the Riverlands first opened as a bird sanctuary there were less than a hundred trumpeter swans seen that year.  Speaking of the Audubon Center, the Corps has finally gotten around to landscaping the land between the center and the water. It looks great! We also saw one American Bald eagle. After our birding adventure, we headed across the river to Alton, to dine at Just Desserts. All pies are made that day and they calculate to sellout each day by four. We arrived at two and placed our order, just before the wait-staff started to erase the no longer available pies for the day. The first time Anne and I went there, we ordered lunch and then we ordered dessert, much to our chagrin. The pies we had been eyeing were no longer available. We’re older and wiser now. Eat dessert first, because life is short and uncertain, especially at Just Desserts.