Minnesota trumpeter swan population tops 5,500

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Minnesota trumpeter swan population tops 5,500
(Released January 20, 2011)


A statewide aerial survey conducted Jan. 5 - 8 revealed that the population of trumpeter swans in Minnesota has more than doubled in the last five years, according Larry Gillette, wildlife manager for Three Rivers Park District, which organized the survey.

View image of swans: http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/swan_1688.jpg

 
The survey was coordinated by Three Rivers Park District in conjunction with Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Nongame Wildlife Program and The Trumpeter Swan Society. It is conducted every five years as part of a U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) effort to determine the number of trumpeter swans in North America. The funding for the aerial portion of the survey was provided by USFWS.

“The results are actually higher than almost everyone expected,” said Gillette. “Conditions were ideal for the survey this winter, because deep snow kept swans out of agricultural fields where they would be hard to see, and cold weather reduced the number of areas with open water.”

The final count in Minnesota was 5,362 trumpeter swans found at 20 locations in 14 counties. In addition, some trumpeters that nest in Minnesota migrate to Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Kansas for the winter. The estimate is that around 600 trumpeters migrate from Minnesota. Adding these migrant swans to the number counted in Minnesota adds up to almost 6,000 birds.

However, some Minnesota swans have spilled over the border and are now nesting in the Kenora District of western Ontario. These birds migrate back to Minnesota for the winter and are counted in the survey. Therefore, the actual number of trumpeter swans present in Minnesota in September, 2010 is estimated at 5,500. The population estimate in 2005 was slightly more than 2,000 trumpeters, so the population has been growing at more than 20 percent per year.

Trumpeter swans are the largest North American waterfowl. They once nested across Minnesota but were hunted to extinction in Minnesota for their meat and feathers by the 1880s. In 1979, Three Rivers Park District (then Hennepin County Park Reserve District) began releasing trumpeter swans in park reserves just west of Minneapolis in the first effort to restore this species to Minnesota.

The DNR Nongame Wildlife Program joined the restoration effort in the mid-1980s. DNR biologists collected eggs in Alaska, raised the chicks in captivity and released the swans at two years of age in western Minnesota. This joint effort resulted in a spectacular wildlife restoration success story. Trumpeter swans now nest across almost all of Minnesota and have expanded their range northward into western Ontario, Canada.