Trumpeters Glide to Recovery

Efforts to re-introduce the trumpeter swan in the Midwest are exceeding expectations. In fact, officials in one state are trying to find out if the swan population can now grow on its own. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mike Simonson reports:

Transcript

Efforts to re-introduce the trumpeter swan in the Midwest are exceeding expectations. In fact, officials in one state are trying to find out if the swan population can now grow on its own. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mike Simonson reports:

(sound of trumpeters being released)

Six years ago, 14 trumpeter swans were released on Honest John’s Lake in
northern Wisconsin…

(honk honk honk)

The idea is to bring back the slow, low-flying bird hunted to extinction in
the 19th century for their beautiful white feathers. The goal was to have 20
nesting pairs returning to Wisconsin by the year 2000. Trumpeter Swan Recovery Program Director Sumner Mattison says they’ve passed that goal…with 51 nesting
pairs in Wisconsin.

“The wild nesting pairs are producing enough young so we don’t have to worry about restocking a this point, in fact, we have surpassed 50 young per year over the last six years.”

(sound of release)

Mattison says similar programs are also meeting success in Michigan,
Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Ohio.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mike Simonson.