July 25, 2006

In 1994, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources began an effort to restore the formerly native nesting trumpeter swans to the skies and wetlands of Iowa. The last historical nesting attempt occurred on the Twin Lakes Wildlife Area northwest of Belmond, Iowa in 1883.

"Our initial goal was to have 15 free flying wild pairs by 2003," said Ron Andrews, coordinator of the trumpeter swan restoration program with the Iowa DNR. The first wild nest hatched in 1998 on the Jack and Maylu Kennedy farm pond near Epworth. "This pair was part of a free flying pair of swans that Jim Foreman of Epworth let us neck collar and he then allowed them to free fly." Wild nesting trumpeter swans had thus not occurred in the Iowa for 115 years.

"We reached our initial goal in 2004 and raised our goal to 25 wild nesting pairs by 2006. We actually had at least 26 wild trumpeter swan nesting attempts in 2005 and it appears we will have nearly the same number in 2006," Andrews said. During the past decade, several Iowa released trumpeter swans have nested in southern Minnesota and Wisconsin extending the nesting range in their respective states nearly 100 miles further south.

Three years ago, a pair of trumpeter swans unsuccessfully attempted to nest in north central Missouri. That same pair did successfully hatch 4 cygnets near Dawn, Mo., on Bud and Debbie Neptune's pond in 2005. That successfully nesting pair marks the first time in nearly 140 years since wild trumpeter swans had nested in Missouri. "They returned to the same pond this year but were unsuccessful in hatching any young. We are suspicious that high water may have flooded their nest site," Andrews said.

"We were excited to learn that another Iowa trumpeter swan pair nested in near Savanna, Ill., and hatched two cygnets this summer," Andrews said. Trumpeter Swans have not nested in the wild in Illinois since the 1840s making it more than 160 years since they occurred there. Interestingly enough, the 1840s, trumpeter swan nest occurred near Glenview, Ill., which is now a suburb of Chicago.

Iowa trumpeter swans continue to generate all kinds of excitement and make new modern records wherever they appear. This charismatic mega-fauna, and North America's largest waterfowl, give us all great opportunity to "Trumpet the Cause" for many values of wetlands and wetland restoration in the Midwest.

One of the goals of The Trumpeter Swan Society is to have more swans migrate further south. "Because, the Iowa DNR currently has the largest captive trumpeter swan "reproduction engine" in place in the world, we are going to cooperate with the society on this effort," Andrews said. With the of approval of the Mississippi and Central Flyways and the states of Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas, the Iowa DNR will release about 50 trumpeter swans, or roughly half of its production, in these states.

"The goal is to see if we can entice more trumpeters to migrate further south and establish secure migratory flight patterns. All kinds of interest will occur when this new fauna begins flying the skies of the south. Iowa, indeed is a major player in bringing back trumpeters to the interior portion of the United States and in seeing historical records fall and be replaced with new ones," Andrews said.