Driving home from work earlier this week, out of Sedro-Wolley and down Cook Road towards I-5, I saw them for the first time: a V of nine Trumpeter swan cruising overhead in the cloud-curdled sky. Today, I saw dozens more in the muddy fields north of Cook.
They are welcome winter visitors here in Ish River Country, arriving in mid-October from their breeding grounds in Alaska. They stand over 6-feet tall and feed in the fallow fields of the Skagit Valley amongst flocks of Tundra swans (which are smaller) and Snow geese. "Birds of Washington" claims an average of 1000-3000 Trumpeters overwinter in the state, from Snohomish County northwards, and local birding listservs are reporting sightings from Seattle to San Juan Island to the Skagit.
These elegant beauties have rebounded from near-extinction in the 1960s, but have been threatened more recently by ingesting lead shot leftover from hunters in Whatcom County and British Columbia. At least 868 have died since 1999. Martha Jordan, a Skagit Valley ornithologist and bird lover, founded the Trumpeter Swan Society and is leading the effort to monitor the health of local flocks and tackle the lead shot problem. She is looking for volunteers to help with swan surveys, and will payfor your gas -- contact her at swanlady@drizzle.com or (425) 787-0258.
Martha is also leading two field seminars focusing on the ecology of Trumpeter swans in February with North Cascades Institute. Learn more and register here.
Skagit Valley
Trumpeter swans
Birds
No comments:
Post a Comment