Secrets of trumpeter swans. Don’t gawk!

By Linda Jo Scott
Sun staff writer
This story has a secret at its core. It’s a bit like writing about a favorite fishing hole — or a special spot where morels love to grow. Shhh….
In this case, it’s a small pond somewhere in Calhoun or Eaton County where a family of trumpeter swans has settled permanently. Now you ask, why can’t I give the name or location of the pond? Well, the folks living near it — and even a retired Department of Natural Resources biologist — don’t want those swans bothered by gawkers. And let’s face it, we’ve all got a bit of a gawker gene in us.

If you’ll promise you won’t try to find out just where this pond is, you may proceed with my story.
To begin, we must go back to the late 1800s, when swan down was highly valued for ladies’ hats, feather comforters and pillows. In the early days, trumpeter swans were plentiful in Michigan, but over the years, hunters caused them to vanish completely.
A century later, in the early 90s, Michigan State’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, along with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Program, have worked hard to bring the trumpeter swans back.
First, the birds needed to be located in other states. Approximately 60 swans were known to live high up in the Rocky Mountains, but the state of Alaska boasted a population of a couple of hundred swans which were far more accessible. Fertilized eggs from these birds as well as eggs from the Detroit and Belle Isle Zoos were brought to the Gull Lake Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. The eggs were hatched, and the little signets were raised until they reached two years of age. At this stage, they were released as pairs into Michigan wetlands. In 1991, alone, 61 swans were successfully released in Michigan.
According to the latest survey over 400 trumpeter swans have already been released, and there are at least 325 living in Michigan.
Retired DNR biologist Marvin Cooley was instrumental in this whole trumpeter swan renaissance. Cooley worked for the DNR for 45 years, specializing in waterfowl and, in his later years, in the swan re-introduction program. An active and collaborative biologist, Cooley still keeps in regular contact with various trumpeter swan projects around the state. Dear to his heart are the neighbors who live near the aforementioned pond, for they watch out for the swans, record and photograph their activities, report all relevant information to Cooley, and protect the swans from, yes, from gawkers.
In fact these good folks think of the swan family of one cob (male), one pen (female) and seven little cygnets, as members of the neighborhood and have named them George and Gracie. Word around the neighborhood is that George definitely responds to his name, and Gracie just might recognize hers, as well.
A year or two ago, George and Gracie went to battle against some invading Canada geese. They prevailed, and some baby geese perished in the fracus. Naturally the entire war was reported quickly and accurately by the swans’ neighbors.
Cooley goes on to explain that trumpeter swans are not nearly as aggressive as mute swans, who first came here from England and who, in his opinion have multiplied “out of control.” He feels strongly, as do most biologists, that introducing foreign life forms is a tricky business, citing, as examples, the overabundance of autumn olive plants, florabunda roses, purple lustrife, zebra mussels, and ruff (bottom dwelling fish).
Where does funding come from to perpetuate projects such as the trumpeter swan reintroduction program? Interestingly enough, Cooley, who reveres life, is grateful to the federal government for revenues on guns and ammunition.
“Funds from these taxes have helped buy land for the DNR and made many of our projects possible,” he explains.
Like Cooley, Joe Johnson, chief wildlife biologist at the Kellogg Biological Station, is very proud of the trumpeter swan project.” We are on the verge of a major conservation success story,” he explains.
But please, remember that promise you made in the third paragraph. No gawkers.