JACKSON, Wyo. — This month, the Wyoming Wetlands Society (WWS) released five of their Trumpeter Swan yearlings for the first time in a wetland in the Wind River Range.
Yearlings are Trumpeter Swans that are a year old. WWS’ Captive Breeding Program has been releasing swans in the Wyoming, Montana and Idaho region, including in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), for decades to help restore swan populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE).
The Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) calls this release “a huge step forward in the reestablishment of migrating populations” in their Facebook post about the historic success.
According to Bill Long, program coordinator for WWS, the release in the Wind River’s Big Sandy drainage is aimed at expanding Trumpeter Swan migration and winter range use.
Winter range use expansion is listed as a goal in the Pacific Flyway Rocky Mountain Population Management Plan, which identifies “issues, goals and actions for the cooperative management of migratory birds among State and Federal agencies” that includes all the western states in the Rocky Mountain Region.
Long says that after WWS did a habitat analysis for this release, waterfowl biologists involved in the Pacific Flyway determined potential success based on forage availability on the landscape and the likelihood of migration to adjacent winter range.
Long tells Buckrail that Trumpeter Swans will only migrate as far as they need to in the winter to find open water. In Jackson Hole and farther south in the Green River below Fontenelle, Wyoming, open waters are available to swans all winter. The Big Sandy drainage will provide an area of summer habitat with the hopes that this population will start migration paths that expand past Jackson Hole and the Green River.
Because Trumpeter Swans have high site fidelity, the yearlings released this year will likely be returning to the Big Sandy drainage to have their cygnets, or babies, and will then teach them to expand their winter migrations as well.
WWS captured the yearlings from ponds at their holding facility in Jackson and transported the individuals to the Big Sandy drainage in large dog kennels, which were then put on all-terrain vehicles and hauled a mile to the release site.
Long tells Buckrail a team of 10 people was present for the release, including members of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the BTNF. All the birds were released together at the same time into the selected wetland.
Long says the release went well and the birds were witnessed exploring their new home before the day was over.
All five birds are fitted with identifying leg bands and GSM neck collars that will allow WWS to track them through the cellphone network. The birds are being monitored weekly by a biologist from the Pinedale Region of the WGFD and WWS team members. Initially, the radio collars placed on the swans appeared to be a “nuisance,” but after a week Long reports that the birds seem to be accustomed to them.
According to the BTNF, the yearling swans will molt in July and be able to fly by August. It’s likely the swans will leave their release site sometime in September for their annual migration, with hopes that they’ll return to this release site next summer.
Long says the project is designed to unfold over 10 years, but that might be extended in an effort to continue expanding suitable winter migrations. There are also plans for WWS to release beavers in the southern Wind River Range within the Big Sandy drainage to create additional summer wetland habitat on National Forest and BLM lands.
