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Cygnus Widefield
Cygnus is a northern constellation on the plane of the Milky Way, deriving its name from the Latinized Greek word for swan.
I hope you enjoy this image of Cygnus in color photographed under my home skies.
Imaging cameras: Starlight Express SX-46 ccd camera
Mounts: MX
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Vixen VSD astrograph.
Guiding cameras: sx loadstar
Filters: Chroma HA 3nm,OIII & RGBL
A unique experience.
There was a first winter Tundra Swan at Hawrelak Park yesterday afternoon and again this morning. It was relaxing on the lawn by the lake with Canada Geese. It was very approachable. I walked within 3 m of it while it was preening amid the geese, and it just tucked its head and had a nap.
At one point, it took to flight and did three laps around the lake before coming back to the same place to join the Canada Geese. It appears to be a very healthy individual. I have never been this close to a wild Swan and I am wondering why this solitary young Swan seems as comfortable around humans as the urban park Canada Geese.
Thanks to Pauls Outdoors for the tip.
William Hawrelak Park. Edmonton, Alberta.
Taken at the same place and time where I posted a single adult Trumpeter Swan a copuple of days ago. These juveniles are transitioning from the gray plumage of their younger days into the white adult plumage.
Juvenile Trumpeter Swans and Juvenile Tundra Swans look similar, but the base of the biil on the Trumpeter is black, whereas the base of the the bill on a Tundra Swan is pink.
Parkland County, Alberta.
They are the heaviest bird on the planet capable of long migratory flight. Interesting fact: They have 23 neck vertabrae compared to their close cousins, the Tundra Swan, which have 22.
Parkland County, Alberta.
The North America Nebula is large, covering an area of more than four times the size of the full moon; but its surface brightness is low, so normally it cannot be seen with the unaided eye. Binoculars and telescopes with large fields of view (approximately 3°) will show it as a foggy patch of light under sufficiently dark skies. However, using a UHC filter, which filters out some unwanted wavelengths of light, it can be seen without magnification under dark skies. Its prominent shape and especially its reddish color (from the hydrogen Hα emission line) show up only in photographs of the area.
Cygnus's Wall is a term for the "Mexico and Central America part" of the North America Nebula. The Cygnus Wall exhibits the most concentrated star formations in the nebula.
Around 70 whooper swans on my dog walk for the last few weeks. This was the first time they were quite close and in sunlight.
The blurry white line at the edge of the water are part of a huge flock of Snow Geese resting there.
Two Hills County, Alberta.
This is an adult Tundra Swan as evidenced by the yellow spot on the lore. Most adult Tundra Swans have this feature, but Trumpeter Swans never do.
I posted a shot of a juvenile Tundra Swan in the first comment box. Note that the bill is white at the base, then pink with a black tip. A juvenile Trumpeter Swan is always black at the base.
Juvenile Tundra Swans and Trumpeter Swans both a have a gray head and gray coloration down the neck.
Cooking Lake, Alberta.
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