2023 TTSS News Archive

NEBRASKA: Observation Tips

This winter, bundle up and visit rivers and lakes where open water is reliably available for the best chances at seeing these magnificent birds. In eastern Nebraska, visit locations along the Missouri River such as Desoto NWR and nearby open waterbodies, such as Carter Lake in Omaha.

In central Nebraska, watch for the large, white birds along the Snake River in Cherry County, the Loup river system, the Platte River and large, unfrozen lakes such as Lake Ogallala. Visit the Birds of Nebraska- Online for more winter viewing locations.

Discover how Arkansas became a "star location" for wintering trumpeter swans. Learn the best places to see and photograph trumpeter swans. Be amazed by the far way places swans come from to spend the winter in Arkansas. Learn how Arkansas was a pioneer partner in a migration experiment with Iowa. Enjoy learning what swan behavior means!

Presented by: Kenny Nations, Heber Springs, Arkansas, Dave Hoffman, Iowa DNR, Karen Rowe, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and Gary Ivey, Trumpeter Swan Society

NEBRASKA: State conservation officers are investigating the recent killing of three trumpeter swans in northwest Nebraska’s Sioux County.

The swans, which are a designated “at-risk” species that is not to be hunted, were found dead from gunshots on Friday near the junction of Nebraska Highway 29 and River Road, south of Harrison, according to Conservation Officer Josh Widhelm of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

The site is the entrance to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument along the Niobrara River. Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to call the Nebraska Wildlife Crimestoppers hotline at 800-742-7627 or report online to the OutdoorNebraska.gov/conservation/wildlife-management/wildlife-crime-stoppers.

WEBINAR: This is the first webinar of the Trumpeter Swan Society. It was presented on October 4, 2023.

This webinar is right for you if you want to learn
• how to tell trumpeter swans from other swans and other large white birds
• how a trumpeter swan family spends the year
• what happens to young swans after they leave the family
• lots of other fun swan facts!

Presented by: Kelly Schouten, Educator at the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium

Check out our Instagram page- you don't need an account to see it. This post has 7 fun facts about trumpeter swans!

Check out this fun, short YouTube video on our channel

Check out this YouTube video of a swan preening in a wetland, creating wonderful ripples in the water

MINNESOTA: Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge is one of original release sites for the Minnesota trumpeter swan restoration program.

MONTANA: Last year turned out to be a banner year for trumpeter swans in the Blackfoot watershed.

The Blackfoot Challenge and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began working together in 2005 to restore trumpeter swans to the Blackfoot watershed. Thanks to the support and hard work of many partners, landowners, teachers, and schoolkids over the years, we met our project goal in 2022, and the swan population here is now considered officially restored!... Read more. Swan 1V2 and other Blackfoot swans were reported through our Trumpeter Watch program!

OREGON: Great news! Four cygnets hatched to our Pronghorn Resort trumpeter swan captive pair! These are the first cygnets for this swan pair. They cygnets will be released into the Oregon wild when they are a year old as part of the Oregon Restoration Project.

ONTARIO: "On Canada day Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward presented Beverly Kingdon with the 2023 Key to the City at yesterday’s Canada Day celebrations. In the citation the mayor noted, “Beverly was a driving force behind the Trumpeter Swan Restoration Group. Their successful efforts to restore the population of Trumpeter Swans in Ontario (specifically in LaSalle Park) will ensure that Burlington’s Official Bird has a safe haven for many generations to come."

Trumpeter Swan Society You Tube Channel! Check out our YouTube Channel!
Music of the wetland video: Seven trumpeter swan cygnets hatched a couple days ago! It's early June in a northern Wisconsin wetland which is alive with bird song.The swan parents closely guard these buoyant baby swans. A couple stay close to one parent and the others group together near the other parent. Watch the video and subscribe...

MINNESOTA: In this fascinating interview, learn how Carrol Henderson of the MN DNR Non Game Wildlife Program and many others restored trumpeter swans to the state! Watch now...

Published in Audubon, by author Jerry Emory. A conservation powerhouse and the subject of a new biography, Wright also changed how our national parks protect and manage wildlife. This wonderfully written article also has historic photos of trumpeter swans in the 1930s at what would become Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, and Yellowstone National Park. This is a don't miss article! Read it now...

YUKON: Just in time for Yukon's largest swan celebration, A rare swan has been spotted at M’Clintock Bay for the second year in a row. As of April 13, 296 trumpeter swans had been counted, signalling an early season migration. Read the article...

ONTARIO: Harry Lumsden began with just a few eggs and over a four decade period brought the trumpeter swan back to a thriving population of over 2,500 in Ontario. This earned the retired biologist membership into the Order of Canada in 2004. Read the article...

BRITISH COLUMBIA: "t’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a swan that loves to follow float planes.

Nestled at Victoria’s Inner Harbour, there is a local celebrity that has caused headaches, laughs, and on several occasions hitched plane rides with Harbour Air, without ever paying for a ticket.

“Trumpeter swan. That crazy trumpeter swan,” said Jacques Sirois, birdwatcher and chair for the Friends of Victoria Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

The Swan — known as “Swanson” — seems to have grown an attraction to the airline company’s floatplanes. For the last few years, it has been known to follow the planes as they taxi in and out, and also fly alongside planes as they take off." Watch the videos...

IDAHO: "I spent Monday morning at Deer Parks Wildlife Management Area walking the cleared trails through the corn field and the “cover-crop” field watching hundreds of swans flying from the Snake River into the fields. A few were feeding, but most were loafing in the disced fields where they were safe from predators. I did not see large flocks of ducks because they came in later after I had left." Read more, see the photos

ONTARIO: Read the story of how trumpeter swans were restored to Ontario.

OHIO: Thinning ice was spotted in Ohio...read the article, see the photos

MONTANA: The Blackfoot Challenge began its successful trumpeter swan restoration program in 2005. This update includes the travels of some of those swans, including swans reported through Trumpeter Watch. Read more...

ILLINOIS: "A light and steady snow floated out of the chilled gray January sky onto the open waters along the Illinois-Indiana border. Hundreds of greater white-fronted geese and a small number of tundra and trumpeter swans here for at least part of the winter were resting and feeding.

The flooded, unfrozen fields of corn stubble at the Willow Slough Fishing & Wildlife Area in Newton County in Indiana offer a perfect resting area for these wintering waterfowl waiting for spring. A family of trumpeter swans, two adults, and three first winter birds feeding nearby were beautiful subjects on such a dream-like morning." Read more and see the photo

WASHINGTON: Photographer Michael Lowell visited the Snohomish Valley Friday and spotted a large group of trumpeter swans resting before restating their migration journey. See his beautiful photos

BRITISH COLUMBIA: "There’s something magical about swans; the birds have captured the hearts and imaginations of people for hundreds of years and they have been the subject of many photographers in the Okanagan and Shuswap.

Norman Dick, a wildlife photographer, stumbled across some swans in Tsútswecw Provincial Park in the Shuswap...The snow-white birds aren’t just beautiful to look at — the Trumpeter Swan Society says they are a sign of a healthy wetland." Read the article...

BRITISH COLUMBIA: " A photographer in the Shuswap braved the winter weather to capture photos of Trumpeter swans playing on the Adams River earlier this week.

Sicamous man Norman Dick headed out to the Tsu’tswecw Provincial Park with his camera on Jan. 2.

“It was a nice day, minus 1 degree celsius,” he said. “I have captured a lot of eagles in the area but this was the first time I saw swans. I was excited.”

Dick followed a trail he didn’t normally take, then made his way through the brush to find a spot, and a lot of swans, on the Adams River.

“When I photograph in areas where birds are used to humans they don’t notice me but when the swans saw me their heads all popped up,” Dick said. “I knelt down quietly for ten minutes at a time, inching closer until I lay on my belly on the snow for an hour taking photos and just enjoying watching the birds.” Read the article, see the photos

ARKANSAS: "MAGNESS LAKE — The winter swan dives at Magness Lake are not performed by daredevil humans braving the chilly waters. The maneuvers, as much a dip as a dive, are a feeding technique employed by Arkansas' most gorgeous seasonal visitors." Read more...