For the second year in a row, trumpeter swans have been spotted on Brown Bridge Pond. They normally hang low on the east end of the pond but occasionally venture down by the boat launch to feed in the early morning hours. Trumpeter swans are listed as threatened on Michigan’s Threatened and Endangered Species List, along with four other birds found at the pond- bald eagle, osprey, red-shouldered hawk, and the common loon. If you’re lucky enough to see any of these birds while you’re there, please quietly observe and give them their distance.

Historically, trumpeter swans were common throughout the Great Lakes region. Beginning in the late 1800s, European settlers cleared the land, draining and filling important marsh habitat, and market hunters took swans for their fine down and quills. By 1933, only 66 trumpeter swans remained in the continental United States, mainly in remote parts of the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. Nearly 100 years passed before trumpeter swans were seen again in the Michigan wilds.

Today, three species of swans can be found in Michigan. The trumpeter is the largest and has an all-black bill. The other resident swan, the mute swan, is a European import. The easiest way to distinguish the mute swan is by its orange bill. They also often have a bulbous knot at the top of their bill. The third species, the tundra swan, passes through our state on their migration routes. Shortly after ice thaws, hundreds to sometimes thousands of tundra swans can be seen resting in Great Lakes marshes.

During the 1980s, Michigan began a trumpeter swan reintroduction program as part of the North American Restoration Plan. The Michigan commitment to the plan was establishment of three self-sustaining populations in Michigan of at least 200 swans by the year 2000. After nearly 15 years, the Program can be claimed a complete success: the 2000 count of trumpeter swans in Michigan exceeded 400 individuals.

History taken from MDNR website, http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12145_12202-33030--,00.html