Trumpeter Swan

by Stan Tekiela
© NatureSmart
January 6, 2006

The moment I opened my car door I was hit with a wall of sound coming from hundreds of Trumpeter Swans and Canada Geese. In fact they were so loud that the quacking of hundreds of mallard ducks, which were mixed in with the swans and geese, were not even audible. That is how a visit to my local wintering spot for Trumpeter Swans starts and I never seem to get tired of it.

Walking to the banks of the upper Mississippi river where these birds gather each winter I am reminded of how resilient mother nature can be. Not much more than 30 years ago you wouldn’t been able to see a Trumpeter Swan let alone a gathering of this magnitude anywhere.

During the 1700s and 1800s, the Trumpeter Swan ((Cygnus buccinator) were hunted for their meat, skins and feathers. In addition, nesting habitat for the T-swan was systematically destroyed. By the 1930’s there were less than 70 Trumpeters in the United States not counting Alaska. Most of these were located in remote areas of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. They were completely eliminated from the rest of their natural range including the upper Midwest.

Efforts began in the 1960’s to reintroduce the T-swan to the upper Midwest by a Minnesota based park reserve. Eggs were collected from the few remain nesting birds in Montana and brought back to Minnesota. The eggs where hatched and the young birds were slowly released into the wild. In the 1980s the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) collected eggs from Wyoming and Alaska. These hatchlings added to the small wild population. Slowly over time a wild population started to thrive.

Meanwhile, simultaneous reintroduction efforts began in South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Ontario. Successful introductions in all of these areas have established a sustainable population of about 4,500 wild swans. Minnesota is home to over half of these birds making it a hot bed for Trumpeters.

The Trumpeter Swan is the largest member in the waterfowl family and for that matter the largest swan in the world. It measures up to 5 feet tall and has up to a 6 foot wing span. Adults are pure white with a large black bill and black legs and feet. Males are called Cobs and females are called Pens. The males are slightly larger than the females but other than that, there is no way to tell the difference between the sexes.

Young swans, called Cygnets hatch after 33-37 days of incubation. At hatching they are light gray with pink bills. The hatchlings grow quickly and obtain adult size by the end of their first summer and remain gray with pink bills. They will stay with their parents until the following spring, which is also when the young birds will turn all white with a black bill and look just like their parents.

Its common name comes from its trumpet like call. Unlike many birds who become very quite during the winter, the Trumpeter is more vocal during the winter then they are during the nesting season. Their call is so loud and travels great distances making them easy to identify just by their call--well before you can see them coming.

I think the story of the successful reintroduction of the Trumpeter Swan is a good example of how resilient Mother Nature can be. The take away message from the Trumpeter Swan story is that with some reasonable regulations, healthy and abundant habitat and some basic environmental education we can coexist with animals and birds such as the Trumpeter Swan. Until next time…

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