Only the Strong Survive | National Geographic

along the shores of North Carolina
winter is coming to an end it is time
for tundra swans to make their annual
migration to their summer homes near the
Arctic Circle
in preparation they stop in eastern
Pennsylvania in a ritual known as
staging a time when 10000 tundra swans
rest and eat gathering strength for the
first leg of the trip leaving the lake
for nearby fields the swans graze on
corn leftover from the harvest once
their journey starts the eastern
population of tundra swans will fly
nonstop to the Great Lakes before
resting and eating again
their ultimate destination the Arctic
tundra of Canada and Alaska on the lake
is a rising commotion spring is in the
air it’s breeding time
like all swans Tundras mate for life and
produced between three and five young
each year in March sensing a tailwind
they liftoff
you
even during migration swan families are
close-knit and fly together until the
young have traveled both the north and
south migration routes flying at 50
miles per hour and almost 2 miles high
they aim north
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it’s summer on Alaska’s North Slope and
eight months of winter are over
the land is green and the feeding is
good here the swans will raise their
baby chicks called cygnets
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the young swans must grow rapidly for
the Arctic summer is short
those that don’t learn to fly before
winter comes will die left behind by
their parents when it is time to return
south
the summer months has quickly
in September anticipating that the
Arctic will soon turn to ice once again
the Swans and their new families take to
the air and repeat their 4,000 mile
migration