Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Trumpeter Swans

Trumpeter Swans
 Over the past 10 years Michelle and I have taken numerous trips out to Yellowstone. Our last trip to Yellowstone was last week. We had a great time. While we were there we did spot some trumpeter swans. Since I have had numerous opportunities to photograph swans over the years we did not take any swan pictures on this trip but I do remember that the first time that we ever saw trumpeters was in Yellowstone. It was very exciting at the time.
Trumpeter Swans
In the 1700, 1800 and early 1900 swans were hunted almost to extinction within the lower 48 states of the United States. By 1930 there were only 69 trumpeters left in the lower US. In the 1960s 40 swans were obtained from Montana to repopulate the trumpeter population in Minnesota. In the 1980s swan eggs were collected from the nests of wild trumpeters in Alaska, Montana and from breeders and brought to Minnesota to continue to repopulate the species across the state. These efforts have paid off. The trumpeter population in Minnesota now numbers in the thousands. The swans nest in the area, see them with their cygnets above, and many even stay in the state during the winter.


12 comments:

HansHB said...

Gorgeous!

Roger Owen Green said...

beautiful birds!

ROG, ABCW

EG CameraGirl said...

Trumpeter swans have been repopulated here in Ontario too. In some places they have made a strong comeback!

Unknown said...

Yellowstone is my dream place to go. So nice to see photos from that place. Thanks for sharing.

Mary, MI

FOREST SNAPPER said...

great photos

Richard Lawry said...

Awesome! I have never seen a Trumpeter Swan, but would love to add to my life list.
An Arkies Musings

CabinGirl said...

Beautiful! Looks like you're having a great trip :-)

Carole M. said...

great photographs and where they have been tagged looks quite an awkward spot

Kenneth Cole Schneider said...

Good to hear about the success of their reintroduction.

Nonnie said...

such graceful and beautiful birds! thank you for the wonderful news about their population increasing.

Maria's Space said...

Stunning birds

Anonymous said...

What a great success story!