JACKSON, Wyo. — Wyoming Wetlands Society’s (WWS) swan pond at Boyles Hill is part of an effort to restore swan populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and includes a number of injured birds that the nonprofit has rehabilitated.
Bill Long, program coordinator for WWS, emphasizes that the swans seen at Boyles are not wild; they’re captive birds with wing injuries or broken wings that are used for WWS’ captive breeding program. Typically, wild swans never concentrate in a single pond.
The breeding program has operated since 1994, with over 800 swans raised in multiple local swan ponds to be released in areas around the GYE. This year, Long is hoping to have 35 cygnets, or young swans, available for release in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), the Teton River drainage, the Madison drainage and the Big Sandy drainage in the Wind River Range.
Long says the injured breeders at Boyles have hit power lines or fences that have not been properly marked in their flight paths. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorizes every bird that goes to WWS.
“Not just anybody can possess a bird that cannot fly,” Long tells Buckrail.
WWS only takes birds that have been injured in the Wyoming, Idaho and Montana region that makes up the GYE. Long says this is because the release program has genetic stipulations, where only Rocky Mountain Population (RMP) or GYE origin birds can be used.
WWS also only takes in injured white birds, or adults who are already able to breed, only when the program is in need of additional breeders. Long says it typically takes a year to rehab them before they’re able to become part of the program. Despite healing, the rehabbed birds are still not able to fly again due to their injuries, but they are able to contribute to the restoration of swans in YNP and the GYE.
Because the birds at Boyles are high-profile, visible right off of the road, Long asks everyone to refrain from feeding them.
“We stress that people not feed those birds,” Long says. “All those gray cygnets in there are destined for release in the wild. We don’t want them habituated to handouts.”
According to Long, there are 11 cygnets currently at Boyles Hill, five that will be released in Big Sandy and six that will be released in Oregon.
Long notes that Doug Smith’s recently published book Birds of Yellowstone highlights the birds that came out of the breeders at Boyles and the success of WWS’ captive breeding population, including the second-chance swans. Smith and his co-editor Katy Duffy will be speaking about the book with the Jackson Hole Bird and Nature Club on Friday, June 7.
