The Hope of the Swan
Throughout October and November each year, the small, environmental lake on which we live fills with the sights and sounds of migrating trumpeter swans. We hear them before we see them, and like so many of the creatures who we coexist with in the bucolic twenty acres we tend, I greet them and send good wishes for their journeys when I hear them honking. I have had the privilege of standing underneath a pair flying by and the size and scale of the birds as they gracefully glide through air or water is awe-some. The swans are a beautiful example of humans repairing what some almost eradicated. As I looked into the swan restoration history in this state, I encountered a heartwarming story of ingenuity, dedication, and vision of staff at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources that brought me to tears.
According to Carrol Henderson’s first person account of the reintroduction of eggs from nests collected from Alaska (which I highly recommend you read if you need a feel good story in these times) European colonist fur traders and hunters eradicated the swan population of Minnesota and much of Canada by the 1870s. According to European “explorer” nest records, there were no mention of swan nests after 1885 and according to Henderson, “by 1932 only 69 trumpeter swans survived in the continental United States, mainly in Montana.”
With concerted efforts that began in the 1960s and really took off in the 1980s, Minnesota tax dollars and staff at the DNR took the non-existent swan population to the thriving estimate of 26,000 birds recorded in the top third of the state in 2022. It seems to me that humans are able to put a good idea into action with time, dedicated funding, and the resources of people striving together. The swan resilience in terms of being able to return to their preferred homelands brings me joy, in the theoretical sense, and in an experiential one when they stop by High Island on their way down the flyway of states coming into contact with the Mississippi River (and Kansas) which apparently is a known area in which swans like to fly. Remind me to tell you about the series of paintings I want to make about birds some other time.
Swans are bringing me hope right now. Every time I see one I’m reminded of the alternative timeline in which they were not lovingly restored over a decades long process that brings them to the lake right outside my window. I’m in awe of their size, and their grace, the way their beauty does not diminish their strength or the voice. I’m also trying to think about the lessons of the tale of “The Ugly Duckling” you know the one where a duckling is hatched, ostracized and exiled from his duck family because he’s weird looking, but after a tough year he throws himself at the feet of a flock of swans because he’d rather be killed than be alone, and instead of being met with the suspected violence, he is taken in, because he is one of them. Imagine his elation at finally finding his crew; of finally belonging somewhere. The swan shows up in a lot of Western cultural texts, and it’s easy to see why with the charisma of these large birds who are so beautiful and also fierce protectors of their kin and nests.
Here, in Otter Tail County, Minnesota the lake is finally freezing over. We have our first very thin layer of ice, which appeared when the temps finally dropped into the teens here. We have snow on the ground and the outside is wintering. We have a few swans still dropping by, but nothing compared to the the loud mornings of honking like we had just a couple of weeks ago. Now the Geese are moving through and sounding their calls as they fly overhead. We are rounding the bend to the darkest, longest night, I am trying to slow down, or at least appear as graceful as the swan, honking for whomever to hear, flying as if I know where I’m headed.
From the Archive:
Four years ago November 30, 2020 The Ghost in the Well
Three years ago November 30, 2021 Reading Fundamentals
Two years ago November 30, 2022 No More Multitasker November
One year ago November 30, 2023 Bringing it Back
What I’m Hearing
I discovered I have access to Apple+ Podcasts right now as an Apple+ subscriber, I say “discovered” because I didn’t even realize there was such a thing. But I just devoured the 8 episode series of Wild Things which covers the rise and fall of Siegfried & Roy. As you might recall, I’m fascinated by wild animal people - those into “exotics” is truly a world I do not understand. This series was really well done and covered a lot for the late animal magicians who changed Las Vegas forever.
Creative Ritual
Well, for the close reader you’d have noticed I didn’t get my newsletter out on the 15th of this month, and that’s because I was honoring the life of my Abuela that day in Kansas with a full Catholic burial mass! After returning home from a busy travel weekend that included an art event at the Cargill Gallery in the Downtown Minneapolis Library, and eeking out some time to celebrate my birthday with a beautiful custom cake made by Aunt Mona’s Cakes run by one of my former students. I also met up with another dear former student and lived life right with Vaimo sponsored cheese shop shopping spree and tequila and a trip to my favorite feminist bookstore and good company. I booked a solo show for 2025 late summer which means I need to keep cranking out my small paintings. The library painting I’ve been working on steadily is progressing, this morning I calculated I probably need 25 more hours on it. Hilariously every time I head to paint people at the library seem aghast as if they see the painting as “done” - “what else do you need to do?!” they question as I put the drop-cloth down, and ready my table for painting. “So much” I reply.
Questions to Ponder
What animal lessons are you observing currently?
How are you wintering?
If you’re in the northern hemisphere, how are you coping in the dark?
Where are you finding sites of belonging?
Thanks for journeying with me. I hope, as always, that you take what you need and leave the rest for someone else, or for another time.
-KCF
PS: This Newsletter is funded by generous supporters - join my Art of KCF Kafecitxs Crew with a monthly subscription for special sneek peeks behind the scenes and into art no one else gets to see! And know you’re doing your part to feed a hungry artist out in the world!