Fare thee well, my swan friend...

Swans, like geese, mate for life, so when I discovered this solitary trumpeter near the Nature Center last week I reasoned that it had probably lost its partner. Yesterday, while I was photographing, I noticed it tilting its head as if it was listening for sounds in the distance and possibly hearing the call of another individual swan. After nearly four hours of observing and taking photos, it began to call and swim back and forth in a pacing manner, which led me to believe it was getting ready to take flight. I positioned myself and sure enough, it beat its wings on the water and took off up the valley, hopefully to find a new mate and breed.