Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Trumpeter Swans Reproduce in N. Indiana

A pair of endangered trumpeter swans have successfully hatched an offspring in Indiana for the first time since modern birdwatching records have been kept.

The swan family is in northeastern Indiana's Steuben County.

Before 2017, sightings of trumpeter swan families in Indiana had been limited to winter, with the birds breeding in other states.

Trumpeter swans have been successfully reintroduced in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, and in Ontario, Canada. With breeding birds in nearby states, the natural range expansion back into Indiana was expected, according to Adam Phelps, waterfowl biologist with the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife

"It's a great success story that we have habitat that trumpeter swans need to breed," Phelps said. "With any luck, this pair will return next year to successfully hatch more cygnets (young swans)."

Trumpeter swans lay an average of four or five eggs per clutch. The existence of only one cygnet may indicate that predators ate other eggs or other cygnets.

"It may also be that this female only successfully hatched one egg this year," Phelps said.

Trumpeter swans tend to return to their territories each year, and females tend to return to the site where they were hatched.

Trumpeter swans are one of two native swan species in North America. The other is the tundra swan.

The exotic and destructive mute swan is also present in Indiana. Trumpeter and tundra swans can be distinguished from mute swans because they have a mostly black or all-black bill, whereas adult mute swans have a bright orange bill. Also, mute swans have a large black knob at the base of the bill that native swans lack.

However, juvenile swans are more difficult to identify, because the orange coloration and black knob on the bill have not yet developed. By fall, juvenile mute swans have much lighter-colored bills than trumpeters of the same age.

Research of endangered species in Indiana is conducted by the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife's Wildlife Diversity Staff, which is funded primarily through donations to the Indiana Nongame Fund and federal grants.

To help endangered wildlife, donate at EndangeredWildlife.IN.gov.

For every $5 donated, another $9 is matched in federal funds. In other words, you give $5, wildlife gets $14.

To view all DNR news releases, please see dnr.IN.gov.



Media contact: Adam Phelps, waterfowl biologist, DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife, (812) 334-1137, aphelps@dnr.IN.gov.