By Amanda Accamando, Nature Center Manager
Since 2015, Trumpeter Swan Grace and her two mates, Chuck first, and now Gus, have produced a total of 13 offspring. Each year the cygnets are translocated to eastern Oregon and released in the wetlands of Summer Lake Wildlife Area as part of a partnership with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and The Trumpeter Swan Society to reestablish a stable population of this species in Oregon. Although Trumpeter Swans were reported as common along the Lower Columbia River by Lewis and Clark, swan populations had plummeted by the turn of the 20th century due to hunting pressures. A key component of the Trumpeter Swan Restoration Program is monitoring the numbers of swans throughout Oregon and tracking their movements beyond our state.
Identification bands on the birds help us learn more about the movements of the swans. Before being released at Summer Lake Wildlife Area, each cygnet is equipped with a unique numbered band around their ankle and their neck. Although the neck band appears fairly large, it does not interfere with the swan’s behavior and movement and can be easily seen from a distance with binoculars, including from aerial surveys conducted from a helicopter. ODFW conducts several of these aerial surveys during the spring, summer, and fall in southeast and southcentral Oregon (Crook, Harney, Klamath and Lake counties). The surveys during the spring nesting season help to identify active nests for wild swans whereas the fall surveys inform how many cygnets have survived. Swan sightings also come in periodically from private citizens, such as hunters or birders, through the USGS’ Bird Banding Laboratory. This online tool allows anyone to report a banded bird and helps fill in the gaps in our knowledge.
Last year, we received location reports of Grace’s cygnets from Summer Lake to beyond the borders of Oregon and the United States. The one remaining cygnet of Grace and Chuck’s 2016 brood seems to really get around. In March of 2019, it was reported hanging out in Flathead Valley in northwestern Montana thanks to multiple observations submitted by citizens. The following April it made its way to Kimberly, British Columbia for a short visit before returning to Montana in May. Perhaps the most interesting sighting was one closest to us. A male swan that hatched in 2017 was spotted by a tourist in April in the Deschutes National Forest near Dillon Falls trailhead. This specific swan had been regularly recorded at Summer Lake Wildlife Area, where it had been originally released, but somehow made its way back to within five miles of its birthplace on Lake Aspen!
Several hundred Trumpeter Swans visit Summer Lake Wildlife Area in the winter, and it is believed that most of these wintering swans originate from Canada. However, a breeding population of Trumpeter Swans in Oregon is still a far-off goal. In 2019, a total of 31 wild Trumpeter Swans were detected during summer surveys in Oregon but only four active nests were spotted. Based on a fall survey, only one of these nests ended up being successful.
We said farewell to this year’s cygnets in mid-September just as they were starting to learn how to fly. At Summer Lake Wildlife Area, the cygnets will have much more wetland habitat than here in Sunriver to spread their wings and comfortably learn how to fly. Together, the Sunriver cygnets and the cygnets produced by a pair of swans at Aspen Lakes Golf Course in Sisters, will contribute to establishing Oregon’s breeding population, one swan at a time.