Trumpeter Swan Reports Needed from Arkansas Observers
12-03-2009Those young trumpeter swans brought in from Iowa last year should be back to the wintering grounds in Arkansas. Information as to their whereabouts is needed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
Karen Rowe, AGFC nongame migratory bird program coordinator, said, “We need to know where these birds are and what they are doing. Reports from the public will help us in our work now and for the future with this project.”
Eighteen trumpeter swans, each about nine months old, were brought to Arkansas by a team of Iowa Department of Natural Resources personnel and Iowa volunteers. Five swans were released at Boxley Valley in western Newton County and 13 were released on Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge southeast of Dardanelle. The swans were family groups – young males and females born in Iowa’s ongoing trumpeter swan program.
This relocation of young trumpeters is an experiment that could have major implications in the wildlife world, Rowe says. The objective for the release is called “reverse migration imprinting.” “The aim is to have birds adapt to new territory in the south, young birds that never have migrated, and let them use their instincts to return to Iowa,” she said. Hopefully they will return to Arkansas this winter and bring others with them, away from northern frozen environments,” she added.
By 1900 trumpeter swans were extirpated from their nesting and wintering areas in central and eastern North America. Their historic migrations to southerly wintering sites were eliminated because swan populations were gone. In recent decades wild nesting populations of trumpeters have been successfully restored in several northerly states and Ontario.
Young swans learn migration routes from elder family members. When swans were restocked in northern states, there were no elder swans that “knew” the migration routes south to the wintering grounds. Most swans now winter near their northern breeding areas, but an unknown number are pioneering southward where they are beginning to establish use of more southerly wintering sites.
It is important to document the number of and location of trumpeter swan wintering sites in order to develop range wide management guidelines for the species and safeguard large flocks from disease outbreaks. Little is known regarding the numbers and groupings of southward migrants, the location and characteristics of the sites they are pioneering, the duration of use, or problems they may be encounter.
The Iowa swans released in Arkansas each have bright green neck collars with white lettering. This alpha numeric code on the bands identify each bird, and that code is needed in reports of their sightings, Rowe said. “We need reports of both the collared swans as well as un-collared swans in Arkansas,” she said. “Documenting the presence of unmarked trumpeters in the state and the areas they are using will show us that northern trumpeters are slowly and successfully developing migration routes on their own. Reports of these unmarked trumpeter swans will give biologists insight into the habitats preferred by wintering trumpeter swans in Arkansas” she added.
The AGFC is collecting data on trumpeter swan locations in the state in conjunction with the Mississippi Flyway Council Technical Section’s Swan Committee and the Trumpeter Swan Society.
Rowe urged anyone seeing some of the young trumpeters to report it on the AGFC’s website at: http://www.agfc.com/wildlife-conservation/birds/trumpeter_survey.aspx. Collar markings are desired if these can be obtained with the use of binoculars or spotting scopes. Also needed are date, time, exact location and any other details observed. Citizens who observe the swans and do not have access to the Internet can call Rowe’s office and leave a message at (877) 873-4651 detailing their sightings.