Before I came to Japan, I always thought that swans lived in cities. I remember feeding swans in the park when I was little. One came up and bit my foot. I was wearing shoes, so it didn’t hurt, but the swan was as big as I was. I was scared! In Japan, I don’t see swans in parks. I learned that they are migratory birds. They spend the summer in Siberia and come to Japan in the winter. I went on a trip to Lake Biwa with my wife a few weeks ago, and we found a flock of more than 100 swans in a field. The adults were pure white, but the young swans were still grey. They were all so busy eating the seeds of tall wild grass that they didn’t mind people coming near them. (139 words)

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