Living Art / 01 February, 2014
The Bird of Love
Whooper Swans | The long winter journey to the Japan
Lake Kussharo is a caldera lake and it is located in Akan National Park. The eastern Russian populations of whooper swans, Cygnus cygnus, migrate southeast hundreds of miles to their wintering sites in eastern Asia. They gather at major bays and coastal lagoons like those of Lake Kussharo which are kept ice frozen by the heat of a geothermal activity along the shore, where in the calm, freezing winter air temperatures can drop at dawn below -25ºC. With a great deal of patient, I was able to get close enough and photograph this specimen with my wide-angle lens surrounded by a breathtaking frozen landscape. A subtle gleam from the camera´s flash added to the natural lighting, helped me enhance these beautiful snowflakes and create this magical scene of a bird which is considered a symbol of love and fidelity.
Akan National Park
43°36'38" N | 144°19'36" E
Hokkaido, Japan