The Trumpeter Swan Society (TTSS) Salutes Two Sweethearts

"Sweethearts " Trumpeter Swans by CJ Metcalf

Trumpeter Swans are known for the intensity of their pair bond, which serves them well in the tenacity needed to care for large yet still vulnerable young.  Trumpeter parents invest a great deal in parenting, taking care of large offspring for much of a year. You can read more about their strong attachment on our website, in the section by biologist Ruth Shea; The Key to Understanding Trumpeter Swans.

Keeping pace with Valentine’s Day celebrations of pair bonds, we recognize a couple who have strengthened their bond by sharing a passion – their mutual love for Trumpeter Swans.  The title of a recent Hamilton Spectator news article featuring Ontario’s Beverly and Ray Kingdon says it all:  “Volunteers pour hearts into safeguarding revival of Trumpeters.”

Working in winter in Ontario, Canada, the Kingdons are as tenacious as the birds.  Nearly every winter day finds them pursuing their hands-on passion. Together, they capture and release Trumpeters into cold winter waters of Ontario’s lakes.  In the last 5 years, Bev and Ray have marked and banded over 400 Trumpeter Swans.  To accomplish this, they feed the swans 4,000 kg (almost 9000 lbs!) of corn each winter. After work, they do a lot of laundry.  These are not typical pair-bonding tasks, but for this intrepid pair of sweethearts – it works!

Since 1993, Bev and Ray have helped former Environment Minister and TTSS Board Member, Harry Lumsden, monitor Ontario’s efforts to recover the magnificent Trumpeter Swan.  Theirs is physical work. At LaSalle Park, they first feed Trumpeters so they become tame enough to be tagged.  The captures are done by hand, which requires skill and care.  The operation is often accompanied by riotous splashing or a dunk (for one or the other) in ice-cold water.  Ray reports, “the tagged birds don’t hold a grudge and soon return to be fed again.” Bev keeps detailed records of who’s who and who’s from where, which she shares here on our TTSS Blog.

The Kingdons are a good team.  Ray does much of the wrestling, competently straddling the bird to minimize its stress.  They work fast, often with the help of friend Kyna Intini.  They use a numbered metal band provided by the Canadian Wildlife Service that they secure on a swan’s leg with special pliers. They also attach a yellow wing tag (see previous Blog posting on wing tags) with a black three-number/letter combination unique to each Trumpeter.  These can be observed at a distance, enabling biologists to track their movements in Ontario and beyond.

Bev and Ray have been married for close to 50 years.  Their passion for Trumpeter Swans started 26 years ago when they took responsibility for a pair of captive Trumpeters on their farm in northern Ontario. The cygnets produced by this pair were released to fly free as part of the Ontario restoration project.  We applaud their many hours of dedicated volunteer work to insure the security and vitality of wild Trumpeter Swans. 

We thank C.J. Metcalf, of Norman, Oklahoma, for sharing this wonderful photo, appropriately entitled  “Sweethearts.”  Find more of her photographs here.

Trumpeter Swan Society: Ontario Trumpeter Population Tops 1000

 

Ontario Trumpeter Swan photo by Tony Beck

Volunteers Report Trumpeter Swan Wing Tags – Revealing a Self-Sustaining Population in Ontario

 

 

A team of vigilant observers has helped biologist and TTSS board member Harry Lumsden to track and tally what is now a successful, self-sustaining population of Trumpeter Swans in Ontario.  Ontario’s Trumpeters are marked with yellow wing tags. In a typical year, observers report 300-360 individuals. Once a number is read and reported, the data can be entered to help track that bird’s movements, habitat use and reproductive success. Data from tagged bird sightings allows biologists to produce a genetic family tree and to record population growth and range extension. This past year 116 birds were marked in Ontario — 70 of them caught by hand by the team of Bev and Ray Kingdon, Julie Kee and Kyna Intini in the wintering flock that feeds at La Salle Park and other areas near Burlington on the west end of Lake Ontario. Peak numbers recorded for this wintering group were 160 Trumpeters along with 100 Mute Swans. Smaller congregations, where other birds were marked, included Bluffer’s Park, Frenchman’s Bay, Whitby Harbour and Wye Marsh.

Tag sightings by observers across the southern part of the province proved useful even when the number was not recorded. Ontario observers have been asked to keep track of the proportion of marked to unmarked birds in groups observed (even if number is not read). The last four year’s analysis of reported proportions reveals a steady increase in the wild population. As the population grows, the percent of total marked birds has declined. In 2005, it was 54%. By 2006 it had declined to 46%, 2007, 44% and in 2008, 39%. In 2007-08 364 tagged birds were reported. By using this calculated annual percentage rate, with an adjustment for marked birds missed (based on year to year variance in reports of known live tagged birds) along with the percentage ratio of marked to unmarked birds, biologists estimate the population.

Doing the numbers, Harry Lumsden recorded quadruple figures for the Sept. 2007 to Aug. 2008 report — a total of 1018 birds.  The milestone of 1000 birds had been passed!  This number is for adult and sub-adult birds. Cygnets of the year averaged 39% for this period. Applying this ratio to overall numbers, Ontario’s breeding population estimate registers a remarkable 1415 birds. When Harry Lumsden started Ontario’s Trumpeter Swan Restoration program in 1982, Trumpeters had not been seen for almost 100 years, since 1886 when a hunter at Lake Erie’s Long Point shot the last known individual. The Ontario Field Ornithologists honored Lumsden with their Distinguished Ornithologist award for 2008. Among his many career achievements, leading the successful restoration of Ontario’s Trumpeter Swans must bring great satisfaction.