Solo the trumpeter swan returns

Solo, the trumpeter swan who's been returning to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge for at least three and possibly four decades, arrived at Winslow Pond on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010. This time he returned with the mate he found in 2009 and three of the four cygnets they produced that spring.

Section:Gallery

Mon., Jan. 25, 2010

Solo, the trumpeter swan who's been returning to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge for at least three and possibly four decades, arrived at Winslow Pool on Jan. 25, 2010, as soon as enough open water was free of ice for him to come back. This time he returned with the mate he found in 2009 and three of the four cygnets they produced that spring. Refuge biologists do not know where the swans spent the ice-up portion of the winter.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Solo, the trumpeter swan who's been returning to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge for at least three and possibly four decades, is photographed at Winslow Pool on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, with his mate and three of the four cygnets they produced in 2009.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A family of trumpeter swans leave Winslow Pool at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge after returning Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, as soon as enough open water was free of ice.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A young trumpeter swan stretches its wings a minute or two before the swan family took off from Winslow Pool at Turnbull National Wildlife Reuge on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010. Also pictured is another of the three cygnets on the pond plus their parents, one of which is Solo, the trumpeter swan who's been returning to Turnbull for at least three and possibly four decades.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Solo the trumpeter swan that's been returning to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge for at least three and possibly four decades, takes off from Winslow Pool after returning to the refuge on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Two trumpter swans, including the male nicknamed Solo, swim at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge after returning Monday, Jan. 25, 2010. The adult swans have orangish heads from feeding underwater while the three cygnets still have grayish heads. The young swans won't be sexually mature until they are 4 years old.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Solo, the trumpeter swan who's been returning to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge for at least three and possibly four decades, is photographed at Winslow Pool on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, with his mate and three of the four cygnets they produced in 2009.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
The three 7-month-old cygnets tip bottoms up to feed on underwater vegetation as one of their parent trumpeter swans stays vigilant at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. There's no way to positively identify the adult as Solo or his female partner without handling the bird and bending back feathers to reveal its sex organs, refuge biologists say.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review