Beauty and the Beast

Grande Prairie, Alberta Photo Randy Vanderveen A vandalized stop sign at the Evergreen Park CN crossing provides some unsolicited advice. Sometimes it seems hard to believe that winter will ever end.

Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie, Alberta 30/03/10 Like a group of school yard bullies, some recently returned swans scare away Canada geese from a small pothole filled with water on a field east of Grande Prairie. The large white birds can be very territorial and once they begin to nest they will even be more protective of their turf even chasing away other swans including last year's young.

Spring has finally arrived in the Peace Country sometimes it seems like it never will arrive.
It is always great to see the end of winter and the beginning of a new season of growth.
While robins and crows arriving back from the South is a good indication of spring — geese return too early sometimes putting up with wintry weather for a long time — I always view the return of the swans a sign of spring.
Trumpeter swans nest in the South Peace and their size and colour makes them easy to pick out.
However during the early spring often tundra swans or  whistling swans also show up en route to their nesting grounds in the North.
For those confused by which one is which the calls of the two birds definitely give an indication as to why they have their names.
Also the tundra swan has a yellow "tear" on the top of its bill, while the trumpeter has an all black bill.
When a person takes time to watch you notice that swans often consider themselves at the top of the pecking order.
In a sequence from the photo above at one point, after clearing the water of any geese and ducks, the large birds proceeded to go on to the dry ground and chase all the other birds away.
Beauty in looks and disposition — in both nature and people — do not necessarily go hand in hand (or wing in wing).

I Peter 3:3-4, NIV. "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."