I didn’t see any snow geese at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge today, but I did see tundra swans.

My internal thesaurus was cataloguing synonyms for “elegant” when I noticed a commotion.

The swans were bathing! So graceful and majestic and…

… playful? They both paused after this undignified flail, as if to make certain no one was watching.

Then…

I couldn’t help laughing out loud as they splashed and rolled. A few minutes later, they shook out their feathers, folded their wings, and resumed their stately tour of bay.

I was captivated by the swans’ antics, and tonight my internal thesaurus has started compiling synonyms for “joyful”.