MEDIA COMMUNICATIONSDivision of University Relations403 Olds HallMichigan State UniversityEast Lansing, MI 48824-1047
MEDIA CONTACT: Joe Johnson, (616) 671-2511 orSue Nichols, University Relations, (517) 353-8942
1/29/01
TRUMPETERS FLYING STRONG INTO NEW MILLENNIUM
HICKORY CORNERS, Mich. -- The distinctive hoot of the trumpeter swan is more likely to be performed on Michigan's wetlands, according to the most recent census that points to successful restoration efforts.
"We are on the verge of a major conservation success story," said Joe Johnson, chief wildlife biologist at Michigan State University's Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. "The trumpeter swan's presence is one indicator of a quality wetland, and a move toward large-scale habitat restoration is the key to maintaining biodiversity."
Johnson is chairman of the swan committee of the Mississippi Flyway Council, an organization that monitors waterfowl populations, provides recommendations to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and conducts the trumpeter swan census every five years.
The trumpeter swan, which disappeared from Michigan's wetlands early in the late 1800s, is making a comeback, according to a 2000 census. The population is also growing across seven other states and two Canadian provinces, thanks to a restoration effort involving governmental agencies, zoos, wildlife biologists and others.
The flyway council set a Michigan goal of 200 trumpeter swans on its wetlands by 2000.
Last fall's census found:
* 401 birds across the state. The goal calling for 30 nesting pairs was exceeded by nine pairs.* Regionally (Ontario, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Saskatchewan and South Dakota), 2,463 birds were found, 123 percent of the 2001 goal for the Great Lakes area.* There were 195 nesting pairs, surpassing the 180-pair goal.
Trumpeter swans disappeared from Michigan in the 1800s due to unregulated hunting. Biologists began trumpeter restoration efforts in the 1960s, but it wasn't until the early 1990s, however, that Michigan's wild trumpeter population was re-established.
Eggs collected from wild Alaskan trumpeters were hatched and cygnets were reared at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. Two-year old swans were later released in pairs on wetlands around the state. More than 200 swans have been released in Michigan.
"We want to stay in excess of the goals for three consecutive years, then perhaps we can relax," Johnson said.
Indications of a successful reintroduction include a higher number of eggs hatching than swans dying, no supplemental feeding and no outside releases, such as those that have helped establish the population to this point. Biologists also like to see three fledglings from each nest and 25 percent of gray cygnets in the annual fall surveys. These are indications of a healthy population.
While they wait to see if the trumpeter population holds its own, the biologists are trying to work out a wrinkle among the new resident waterfowl -- lack of migration. There is very little movement of the Michigan and Ontario trumpeters south of their respective borders each fall, an issue that initially concerned those studying them. "Migration was thought to be critical to the restoration's success, and it's not true," says Johnson. "These birds are so much more adaptable than we ever gave them credit for."
Since the northern birds don't seem to fly very far south in the fall, but do go north each spring, biologists believe southern birds might also follow this pattern. They'll be releasing trumpeters in southern Ohio, hoping that they will head into the northern Midwest the following spring, then returning to winter in the milder climate.
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