Swans trumpet in Minnesota once again

It's possible to see trumpeter swans in Minnesota these days, a remarkable thing when you consider that just 50 years ago there were no wild ones left in the state. They'd finally disappeared after being relentlessly hunted for their feathers and skins and meat for the table.

The restoration of their population in Minnesota is a true wildlife success story. I've been fascinated by trumpeters not only because their statewide numbers have gone from zero to thousands in little more than 40 years. Also intriguing is the fact that the restoration effort is like a puzzle missing one key piece: Trumpeter swans are growing up and nesting in Minnesota, but nearly all of them remain here all year. They're not migrating as they did in the past.

Some 150 years ago, trumpeter swan families -- mom, dad and that year's cygnets -- lifted off in late autumn and traveled to Missouri, Arkansas or Texas. They'd return at ice-out in February or March to start the breeding cycle all over again.

Swan relocation

We owe the return of Minnesota's swans to efforts by dedicated wildlife managers at Three Rivers Park District and the DNR's Nongame Wildlife Program, plus a host of other agencies and individuals.

Restoration began in the 1960s, when the park district brought young swans in from a tiny remnant population living in a remote, high-altitude area in Montana, to release in Hennepin County.

The nongame program embarked on a statewide effort in the 1980s. As part of that, Carrol Henderson, the program's supervisor, made three trips to Alaska, which had a growing population, picking up 50 trumpeter swan eggs each year. (I've always wished I could have seen Henderson getting off a plane lugging those suitcases with specially constructed compartments for that valuable cargo.)

"We were all pleased and amazed by the swans' rapid recovery in our state," said Henderson.

"We've achieved the recovery of the population, but the birds are writing their own book as they adapt to our current environment."

Live and learn

Trumpeter swans learn life's lessons from their parents, but the swans brought into Minnesota arrived without mentors. As these swans grew up, many of them moved in autumn to the closest open water, often near power plants and dams. Here they found underwater vegetation, and learned to forage nearby for corn and potato scraps in harvested fields. There was little reason to leave.

Those few pioneering trumpeters that did move farther south in autumn often encountered an inhospitable environment. Entire families might be wiped out by poachers, or were mistaken for tundra swans, which are legally hunted in some parts of the South, or found wetlands so altered there was little to forage on.

Since we can't make the swans leave, we have to wait for them to teach themselves to migrate, one family group at a time. Once a family travels south, then returns to Minnesota, their offspring will follow that route in subsequent years. There's greater cooperation now from wildlife agencies in Southern states, so swans should have a better chance. About 10 percent of Minnesota's swans have become migrants, most of them wintering in Arkansas.

"It takes patience," Henderson says. "The swans are going to have to create their own migratory traditions."

They're never going to be as plentiful as Canada geese, another population recovery success story. Trumpeters need a lot of elbow room during nesting season, says Madeleine Linck, wildlife technician with Three Rivers Park District.

"They're so territorial that they drive off other swans, including their offspring from the previous year," she notes. "They're big birds and they need a lot of food resources."

A great deal of hard work has gone into getting the swans this far. Now it's time for nature, and the birds, to write the next chapters.

Val Cunningham, a St. Paul nature writer, bird surveyor and field trip leader, can be reached at valwrites@comcast.net.

Monticello's riverside Swan Park is the best known site in Minnesota for viewing trumpeter swans in winter. Visit www.monticellocci.com/pages/swans for directions and tips on viewing the swans. With little snow cover through mid-January, the swans were widely dispersed in farm fields around Monticello.

There's a wealth of information about trumpeter swans at the Trumpeter Swan Society website: www.trumpeterswan society.org/.

Two things you can do to help trumpeter swans thrive:

1. Restock your fishing tackle box with non-lead jigs and sinkers (lead kills swans).