TTSS Blog 2022

MONTANA: "Trumpeter swans have historically migrated through the Bitterroot Valley," Tom Reed said. "It wasn't until three years ago that we had our first nest on the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge. No one had historically ever known that swans nested in the Bitterroot Valley. From three years ago, and every year since then, we've had the same pair pull off a clutch of cygnets and they have successfully fledged on the refuge. So, it's really fortuitous that they are stopping and nesting. They have been pulling off a clutch, successfully. The first year, I think it was three (cygnets), then four. Last year, it was six." Read more...

MICHIGAN: Both Michigan and Wisconsin mounted restoration efforts in the 1980s to bring North America’s heaviest bird — adult males can weigh up to 30 pounds, females 23 pounds — back to the Midwest, using eggs collected in Alaska and then hatched for release in each state.

That has resulted in Wisconsin having nearly 6,000 swans in 2019, while Michigan in 2015 there were 3,000. Read more...

MINNESOTA: Minnesota has both migrating tundra swans and nesting and wintering trumpeter swans. Learn about each species in this interesting article. Read more...

MINNESOTA: "Taking another look at lead being used in fishing and hunting and its devastating impacts on native waterfowl, lawmakers could establish the Minnesota Swan Protection Act.

Sponsored by Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul), HF3774 would create the act designed to protect native swans. The bill would prohibit the use of lead tackle in swan breeding waters, increase penalties for protection of the birds and appropriate money for a lead tackle collection program.

The bill was laid over Thursday by the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill, and to allow time for Hansen to work with committee members on the bill. There is no Senate companion."

ONTARIO: After submitting a Trumpeter Watch report, birder Jack Reynolds wrote of his experience sighting wing tagged Ontario trumpeter swans.

VIDEO: Here’s a quick trumpeter “swan smorgasbord’ of behavior. In less than a minute you can see preening, feeding, “tip up”, and take-off. You can also see and hear the “preflight” behavior of trumpeter swans getting ready to head off to the night’s roosting area.

Video by Margaret Smith, Executive Director, The Trumpeter Swan Society

WISCONSIN: Wisconsin Public Radio host Larry Mieller talks with guest Mark Naniot to discuss what happens to wildlife with lead poisoning. Most animals don’t get lead poisoning from being shot, they get it from ingesting it. We talk to a wildlife rehabilitator about where the lead comes from, what happens when too much lead is in the system of an animal, and how it can be treated. Listen to or download the podcast.

ONTARIO: "Reading the trumpeters’ wing tags can tell you a lot. Birds wearing yellow tags with a black code have been caught and banded in Ontario. Birds banded in the U.S. usually wear coloured collars, rather than tags; their collars are green, yellow or white with black or white codes." Read more about Ontario's marked swans including V64, nicknamed "Vesper" by the author, whose spirits were cheered watching the swan.

WASHINGTON: "A historic event has taken place in the Cultus Bay wetlands of South Whidbey, with the arrival of a second trumpeter swan. The large bird, as yet unnamed and of undetermined sex, just showed up about four days before Christmas, joining the previously lone swan living in the wetlands since 2019." Read more...