Photo of the Day 52

Swans, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1999

Photograph by Jim Richardson

Brooding skies cast a lavender glow on a flock of mute swans gliding across a crag-ringed loch in Edinburgh, Scotland. As their name suggests, mute swans are usually silent, limited by a straight trachea. However, they occasionally snort, hiss, or bark. The graceful Cygnus olor communicates mostly through visual displays and postures.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Once and Future City," July/August 1999, National Geographic Traveler magazine)