WEBINAR: rumpeter swans disappeared from Iowa by 1883. By the 20th century, this once wetland-rich state was transformed into an agricultural crop-rich state as wetlands were drained.

Explore how trumpeter swans became ambassadors for wetland conservation in Iowa.
You will also
• Be inspired by Iowa's engagement and education programs as swans were restored
• Learn about the migratory movements of Iowa trumpeter swans and the survival of cygnets in their first winter!

SASKATCHEWAN: "In a soon-to-be published paper, he and his co-authors said about 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) per year, based on 2001 to 2011 data, are drained across the Prairies. Much of that occurs in Saskatchewan.

The scientists studying the ecosystem impacts of drainage in the prairie pothole region found decisions to drain are often made without considering those impacts.

Whitfield said they found more nutrients move downstream and there is loss of dabbling ducks and wetland birds, loss of habitat and changes in the hydrological regime even at low levels of drainage." Read more...

ARKANSAS: Did you know that a lake in Heber Springs, Arkansas is the landing spot for more than 100 trumpeter swans yearly from November through February?

If you are an avid birdwatcher then Magness Lake, a U-shaped extension of the Little Red River will be descended upon by the trumpeter flock of birds migrating from the Midwest for the upcoming winter. The birds come to Arkansas to settle down for the winter months and have been doing so since the 1990s.

Read more to see where swans are in the area and to see photos...

IDAHO: Zoo Idaho has partnered with the Trumpeter Swan Society, Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, and multiple zoos from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums from across the US on the Oregon Restoration Project. The goal is to help improve trumpeter swan populations in Oregon. Zoo Idaho housed 19 Trumpeter Swans in the wetland area over the past winter before relocating them to the Summer Lake Wildlife Area, Oregon.

On the morning of June 28, the 19 swans at Zoo Idaho with an additional six swans from the Wyoming Wetland Society were transported to Summer Lake Wildlife Area where they were processed, collared, and released Saturday, June 29. Read more and see more photos...

OREGON: unriver Nature Center has confirmed that five baby trumpeter swans — also known as cygnets — hatched at Lake Aspen last weekend.

The cygnets were hatched June 8 by resident trumpeter swans Gus and Valentina. Since 2015, when the Sunriver Nature Center introduced the resident mating pair Chuck and Gracie, 11 cygnets from the nature center have been released at Summer Lake Wildlife Area through Oregon’s Trumpeter Swan Restoration Program. ..

Birds and Blooms: TTSS board member Dan Casey explains how to identify a trumpeter swan

YUKON: "There are no shortage of camera lenses trained on the trumpeter and tundra swans that pass through the Whitehorse and southern lakes region of the Yukon each spring on their migration north. Whitehorse-based nature photographer Peter Mather thought there were still shots going uncaptured despite all the interest in the migrating birds, so he spent a month this spring photographing the swans as much as he could.

In pursuit of unique swan photos, usually taken from eye-level with the birds as they fed or rested on water bodies in the southern Yukon, Mather used a variety of techniques. He used remote cameras, underwater housings and white blankets as camouflage. He described camping out near common migration stops before inching his way out to the waters’ edge hours before dawn and waiting for the swans to come in close. " Click to see the photos