In late January of the year a new cob or male swan, took residence on Packanack Lake. A solo female swan, a pen, had been living on the lake for close to a year without a mate due to her mate’s tragic death. This new cob was quickly observed to be a rather bold swan in that he was very demonstrative in his actions to all other birds and people on the lake. He took residence and immediately began showing dominance on the lake by demonstrating his prowess and aggressiveness. I observed him in many aggressive behaviors and often saw him flying from one end of the lake to the other on a regular basis. In early April I observed the ritual of the pen and cob mating and from that point on the two swans began to build a new nest and prepare themselves for the coming cygnets in late spring. Though the male was an aggressive bird by nature, this trait would benefit the young cygnets by having a parent who was protective and caring for them. The male had one other trait I found appealing. Unlike most mute swans who float with their feathers and wings passively lying over their bodies, this male always had his wings drawn upward in a perfectly raised curvature as you see in "Prelude to the Cygnets". Whenever I approached him he would raise his powerful wings upward in this distinct reversed arch toward the sky. On a mid-May evening as the sun was setting and the weather was finally turning to warm, I approached the bird cautiously. Knowing the light was perfect for photography, I set up my tripod in anticipation of a new scene unfolding. As the male approached me, he raised his wings up in defiance to my effort. No surprise, he was behaving as expected! As I began to photograph him, he turned and began to swim away! As he ventured out about 50 yards from the shore, he turned slightly to his left and looked back in a slight nod of his head as if to keep just one eye on my photographing activity. Just as he turned toward me, he floated into a shadow of a tree that caused a very unique shadow to fall upon his left wing which gave the entire scene a moment of totality. I photographed only one exposure of this perfect light. A moment later he turned back in the direction away from my lens and the shadow on the wing disappeared. Less than two weeks later the female hatched seven cygnets and the lake was alive with additional activity.