By turns elegant in flight, pensive in repose, and raucous in a crowd, the whooper swan is the 747 of the avian world, with an eight foot wing span to prove it. This is waterfowl, however, that inspires music, as in Swan Lake, not calls, as in Duck Dynasty. These monarchs of the sky, including cousins tundra and trumpeter of America and the black of Australia, are a stately society with an attitude to boot. It's as if they own the mirrored lakes of the world with their graceful glide and territorial fussiness. The to and fro of their seasonal flight evokes the passage of time, the cycles of nostalgia and anticipation.

Whooper swans come in for a landing over frozen Lake Kussharo in Hokkaido, Japan. The lake is partially thawed due to thermal activity. (next photo)