What Am I?

It took me a long time to post this because Blogger stopped allowing me to load photos.  But thanks to Google (what an amazing thing), I found a work around.

I saw these animals a month or so ago on my short hike in Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  Can you guess what they are?

This time of year I fly down south

Stuff things to eat in my black mouth

And rest, for soon, I'll sally forth

To raise my young so far up north

Like ugly ducklings they may look:

By the cover don't judge the book

Though my offspring aren't real cuties

But when they're grown, they sure are beauties

White feathered neck is curved and long

I fly with ease, with wingbeats strong

I summer up on tundra bleak

A place, to you, with much mystique

Well I think that is enough clues.  If you ever read "The Ugly Duckling," then this one should be a piece of cake.
So, scroll

D

O

W

N
for the

answer!

So easy that I heard you yawn -

I am a lovely tundra swan!

Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge has large populations of these birds in the winter.  They fill the air with their wild cries.  And then, suddenly, they are gone - heading thousands of miles north to breed.