Swans

Joe Meche is a member of the board of directors of the North Cascades Audubon Society and is in his eighth year as editor of the chapter newsletter. Joe is also a member of the board of directors of the Washington Brant Foundation. He has been photographing birds and landscapes for over 30 years and has been watching birds for more than 50 years.

Every winter, northwest Washington has the unique privilege of playing host to one of the most spectacular, not to mention the largest, of the world’s waterfowl species—the swans. Sweeping pastures, farmlands, ample freshwater lakes, bays and estuaries provide essential feeding and night roosting habitat for more than 2,000 swans. These magnificent birds migrate in late fall from their northern breeding grounds in Canada and Alaska, and bring with them the young of the year.

As you drive through the north county among the open fields and dairy farms, for a Sunday drive or perhaps a day-long raptor search, the swans will more than likely catch your eye. They will cause you to stop and observe in wonder, if not outright awe. The first thing you will notice is the size of these very large and very white birds (keep in mind that the juveniles are varying shades of gray). If you see a flock winging its way toward a foraging area or a night roost, you will undoubtedly be impressed by the birds’ seven- to eight-foot wingspan. These birds are so huge that a sandhill crane, which spent most of last winter with a small flock of swans, appeared to be small by comparison!

Three species of swans can be found in the area. The two native species have been joined, albeit in much smaller numbers, by the mute swan, which was introduced from Eurasia primarily as an adornment to private gardens. Some escaped birds have established themselves and now breed in the wild. Mute swans can be aggressive and their appetite for sensitive grasses in some parts of the country has led officials to consider plans to eradicate this introduced species.

The swans that grace us with their presence throughout the winter are the indigenous trumpeter and tundra swans. The two species can often be found feeding and roosting together in large flocks throughout the area. At a glance and especially from a speeding automobile, you might not be able to differentiate between the two, but with a small amount of training and careful observation, you will be able to see the sometimes subtle differences.

The trumpeter is the largest of the world’s seven swan species and far and away the largest member of the family of waterfowl. Its large wings and wingspan are necessary to lift a body that can weigh in excess of 30 pounds. Unlike smaller and lighter waterfowl, trumpeters require a running takeoff to get airborne. Once in the air, however, their graceful flight belies their seeming awkwardness on the ground. To many observers, trumpeter swans are the 747s of the avian world. Mallards mixed in with a flock of swans always remind me of a single-engine Cessna lining up for takeoff with the big boys at Sea-Tac.

Like many of the larger bird species, trumpeters mate for life, and the adults will generally begin nesting in late April or early May. Their nests can be as large as five feet in diameter and consist of a mass of sedges, grasses and reeds. The mass is hollowed out or cup-shaped to hold the eggs during incubation. Swans’ nests are usually close to water and while the swans will tolerate ducks and other water birds, they will drive off other swans. Each nest will hold from four to six eggs which are incubated primarily by the female and hatch between 36 and 40 days.

Hatchling swans are called cygnets, weigh only seven ounces or so, and face hazards immediately upon hatching. The young can be trampled by the parents or become tangled in vegetation and drown when they first venture from the nest. For those that survive that critical period, along with a plethora of other hazards, the first flights begin approximately 100 days after hatching. The young birds will migrate with the parent birds in the fall and return with them to the breeding grounds the following spring. This is the time, however, when family ties are severed and the year-old birds head off on their own.

Tundra swans are more widespread and appear, at first glance, to be nothing more than a smaller version of the trumpeter. While that might be true to some extent, obvious differences will make them easy to separate. The individual vocalizations of the two species are also good identification keys. Tundras have a tendency to hold their necks straight up from the breast, while the trumpeter will often lay its neck back at the base, giving it the appearance of a kink.

Tundras are more numerous than trumpeters throughout their shared range. They migrate farther south on both coasts than other swans and can be found as far south as North Carolina. Swans are also high-altitude migrants and have been reported by airline pilots as high as 27,000 feet! Like other members of the family Anatidae, swans have webbed feet for swimming, but like geese, they have longer legs that enable them to walk about as they forage in agricultural fields and pastures in winter. Like the smaller ducks, swans can tip to feed on underwater vegetation, but in shallow water, their longer necks preclude the need for tipping.

Widespread hunting of swans for meat and feathers brought about serious declines and by the 1920s, both of our indigenous swan species were in serious decline and the trumpeter was almost extinct. The slaughter of large numbers of swans for the millinery trade mirrored that of herons and egrets in the southern states. Through a series of conservation and management programs, trumpeters staged one of the most remarkable comebacks in conservation history. They were taken off the list of endangered species in 1968 when the total North American population rose to between five and six thousand birds. Trumpeter swans are now protected throughout their range.

On a still darker note, a serious dilemma that is being studied locally is the increasing number of deaths occurring from poisoning of swans that have ingested lead shot from the fields where they forage. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Trumpeter Swan Society are studying the problem and trying to locate the source(s) of the lead shot and put an end to the annual die-off of swans. Approximately 1,400 birds have succumbed to lead poisoning over the past five years.

Volunteers from the North Cascades Audubon Society are doing twice-weekly surveys in the north county for three months to help establish where the swans are feeding and roosting, and possibly ingesting lead shot. For more information on our local population of wintering swans and updates on the winter swan surveys, visit the Web site of the North Cascades Audubon Society at http://www.northcascadesaudubon.org. At this Web site, you will also find links to all of the participating agencies, and more information about North American swans.

Swans are magnificent creatures that are highly dependent on humans to protect the habitat that they utilize throughout the year, whether it’s the breeding or wintering grounds. We need to establish a pattern of peaceful co-existence with the swans. Our lives are greatly enriched by having them here every winter and we must do everything in our power to ensure that these birds maintain healthy populations and see to it that they are here for future generations to enjoy. §