The Swans are Back in Town! See them at Mason Neck Park

The Tundra Swans are back in town! Between 200 and 400 of these magnificent birds are spending the winter in the Great Marsh of Belmont Bay and will leave in mid-March for their breeding grounds in the tundra of far northern Canada near the Arctic Ocean.

“Swanfall” is the term used to describe the annual return of swans to their winter home. In years gone by, the residents of Mason Neck maintained a Swanfall telephone tree to alert each other when the beloved swans returned. Their haunting “oo, oo, oo” calls are nothing like the calls of the similar-looking Trumpeter Swans, which sound like the first attempts of a fourth grader to play the trumpet. Mason Neck State Park is offering nine free guided walks to see the Tundra Swans in December and January. Learn more here.