Turning Coronavirus Ugly Ducklings into Beautiful Swans

Lots of us are heeding the prudent directives from health experts to limit our contact with others in order to slow the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. “Social distancing” is the catch phrase. But it doesn’t mean we have to stay indoors. The virus isn’t likely to infect you while using our walking trails, for instance, unless you’re touching handrails or another hiker decides to cough or spit on you (so keep your distance). So, rather than go to a movie theater or hang out in a bar this weekend, I decided to take a lazy meander into the countryside north and west of Appleton on Sunday. In my car. By myself. With nobody there to infect nor to infect me. As I traversed several state and county highways and local roads, taking turns with little regard to where those roads might lead me, I witnessed the marvel of a world awakening to the coming spring. West central Outagamie County is awash in overflowing rivers and streams and ditches and puddles which attract all manner of waterfowl and other birds. I saw a couple of bald eagles, hawks, maybe an osprey, tons of songbirds, ducks, geese, sandhill cranes and a bevy of magnificent swans (as you can see in the accompanying video).

As I rounded a curve on County Road F just west of Nichols. I caught a glimpse of white movement off to my right and suspected it might be swans since I knew their migration patterns meant they were now returning to summer grounds to the north and had been spotted making their annual stopover in our region. So I turned around at the next opportunity and reversed course, hanging a turn south onto Grandy Road and baby, what a scene and what a literal swan song I encountered! Hundreds, maybe thousands of majestic white swans (I think they were tundra swans but possibly trumpeter swans) swimming, flying and squawking like a group of women waiting for a backstage Bret Michaels meet and greet.I pulled over and got out of the car to observe and take a few photos. There was nobody there but me, the swans, the breeze and the feeling that my blood pressure was falling many points every second. I probably stood there for a good fifteen or twenty minutes just taking it in until a minivan came by and interrupted my reverie. The driver slowed down and I could see he and his passenger’s head craned to the left to watch the swan swarm but they didn’t stop. I wanted to yell to them, “Pull over and take a few minutes to take it all in, you fools!”

My point in telling you all of this is that it is important for all of us to do our parts and play our roles in “flattening the curve” of the pandemic but it needn’t consume every waking moment of the new (and hopefully temporary) reality of our lives. One silver lining of the virus outbreak and other unsettling world events is that gas prices have plummeted. So go use a couple gallons of it and explore the amazing world of nature around you. In Wisconsin we have the great fortune of nature’s lavish splendor within a few miles of our homes and when angst, fear and uncertainty surround us, it’s cathartic to escape it if even for only an hour here and there.