The Fog in My Head Every Morning /  by Todd Henson

In response to some of the recent foggy photos I’ve posted a friend asked me if I could photograph the fog in their head every morning. That resulted in what follows.

The Fog in My Head Every Morning

I awake and all around me the world is hidden in fog. I can almost make out little details close in but they quickly disappear into the white mist.

The fog in my head every morning

Walking Over Rocks Into a Foggy Unknown

I blink my eyes trying to bring life into focus. All I see up close is a small field of rocks blocking the way forward. Then water and ice. Then nothing.

Walking over rocks into the unknown

Shaking My Head

I close my eyes and shake my head to clear the haze. But when I look out at the world again it’s all a blur. Even so, I take a step forward.

Shaking my head

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Foggy Morning in the Forest /  by Todd Henson

A foggy New Year’s Day hike in 2023 at Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge

A short while back I shared a series of photographs of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in heavy fog on December 31st, 2022. Today I’m sharing a series of scenes from Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge in the fog on January 1st, 2023, though it’s not nearly as thick.

The soft light of sunrise through the fog

It had rained recently so the ground was a bit soggy, some areas more than others. There was a light fog that let you see the way ahead but slightly obscured the distant trees in a hazy mist. The sun was rising while we hiked and though we couldn’t directly see the sun it did light up the fog in that direction. A couple photos show this.

Foggy sunrise at Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge

When we finally arrived at the observation platform the fog was far more visible, causing the distant wetlands to disappear. We couldn’t even make out the Potomac River. On a previous trip we’d seen tundra swans in the water beyond the tree, but this day the water level was too low, so the tundra swans were hidden out in the fog where the water was deep enough for them. We couldn’t see them but we could hear them.

Mason Neck wetlands in the fog

When we decided to head back I turned around and loved how the rising sun shone through the fog enough to light up the trees, which really set them off nicely against the darker wet leaves on the ground and the light mist in the distance. You can see a little blue in the sky as the fog slowly dissipated.

Sun-lit misty morning

All in all, it was a very pleasant first hike of the year. And as a side note, we weren’t the only ones wanting to spend the first morning of the year out in the woods. We ran across far more people on the trails than we were used to and when we returned to the parking area it was completely full, something I’d not seen before. I have very mixed emotions about things like that. I think it’s absolutely fantastic to see folks getting out and enjoying hiking in the woods. And yet I’ve never been comfortable in big crowds and I love hiking locations where we rarely run into anyone else, so I miss being able to do that. Thankfully, we returned a week or so later and things were back to normal.

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One Morning With Tundra Swans /  by Todd Henson

Four tundra swans far from the tundra

I mentioned in a previous post how my father and I stumbled across tundra swans late last year while hiking in Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge. We only really took notice of them because of the very loud sounds they were making, sounds that we weren’t used to hearing in the area. We learned the birds making them were tundra swans and that they regularly overwinter in the area. That lit a fire in me to photograph them and after several failed starts we managed to find them again on January 7th, and this time I had a long lens with me. They were still at a bit of a distance, so you won’t find any great closeups in this collection of photos. But I was pleased with the variety I was able to create and of the different behaviors we observed. Of course, I’d love to get better views of them and my father and I have been looking around other locations where we’ve heard folks have seen them or where we think they might be seen, but time will tell whether we get any better opportunities.

Flight of the tundra swans

There are two sub-species of tundra swans: Bewick’s swans and whistling swans. Those seen here are of the whistling swan variety. One indication of this is the area where we saw them, with Bewick’s swans generally found in Eurasia and whistling swans in North America. Another indication is the very small amount of yellow on the base of their bills near their eyes, almost invisible in many of these photos because of their distance from us. Bewick’s swans would typically have more yellow.

Goodby, tundra swans

These tundra swans seemed to cluster in smaller, more tight knit groups, perhaps families, sometimes two or three swans, sometimes five or six. In some cases we observed younger swans in the groups which have light grey plumage, especially around their head, instead of the bright white of the adults. Another interesting observation is how some of them have a reddish tint to the feathers of their head nearest their beaks. This is apparently indicative of a large amount of iron ions in the water. I don’t know if that’s the case in the waters where we viewed them or if it was the case with the waters where they migrated from, further north.

Tundra swans swimming upstream. Notice the two adolescents with grey plumage near their head.

Sometimes these tight knit groups would join others and create larger groupings of swans. In one case we watched as a new group flew into the area and landed near a second group. The two groups came together and when they did there was a huge commotion of loud vocalizations, flapping wings and water splashing everywhere. It was as if these were great friends who hadn’t seen each other in ages and were getting reacquainted.

Looking for a place to land

The get together

But, of course, there’s always one of those in every crowd, someone who just doesn’t get along, who has to show off their dominance. Thankfully, we were around to see this and watched as one tundra swan stretched out its neck and chased after another. Granted, it didn’t drive it far away, and eventually they all gathered together again, but not until both understood their place in the tundra swan hierarchy. And notice the two small ducks in the lower left trying to mind their own business.

There’s always one in every crowd

My favorite photographs were some I created earliest in the morning when a group of three tundra swans slowly swam upstream towards the rising sun. I was able to photograph them in silhouette, both as they passed a group of three ducks, and with just the swans. I love how sometimes a single swan will bend its neck just slightly. Very elegant. Look closely and you can see many ducks at a distance out on the Potomac River.

Passersby

A peaceful moment

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at our morning with tundra swans. Though I’d certainly like to see more and create better photographs of them, I’m also very happy we had this opportunity and that I was able to create these photos and show them to you. Tundra swans are a beautiful and fascinating species.

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