Trumpeter Swan Stories

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On a brisk March day in 1999, I joined two other club members for a day of birding. After a busy morning, we thought we'd go to the park at Burlington Beach to check out the waterfowl on the lake. There was a lovely male Red-Headed Duck just at the water's edge, and a few Mute Swans and Canada Geese were being fed bagels at the end of the park. Otherwise, the waterfront was quiet. Suddenly, twenty-nine Trumpeter Swans flew in right in front of us! What a sight with their huge white airborne bodies, long necks stretched out and the sun glinting off their wings. They stuck their feet out in front for a smooth landing. Like a fleet of tall ships, they sailed with purpose towards the man with the bagels. The Mutes were outnumbered and made a slow and dignified retreat. The adult Trumpeters formed an arc around the beach where the bagels were being tossed, to let the cygnets in for a snack. What interesting behaviour! We had no idea there were that many Trumpeters in the area! Where did they come from?

Throughout Southern Ontario, Trumpeter Swan sightings were probably a regular occurrence until about 1750. There may have been as many as 130,000 east of the Rocky Mountains. Very few sightings were recorded in Ontario over the next 130 years. One of the last occurrences in Ontario was at Long Point in 1886 and that was probably a western migrant. By 1912, the species was close to extinction.

In the late 1970's and early 1980's, there was great concern at Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources over endangered species and staff were very interested in fostering lost species. Harry Lumsden, a staff wildlife biologist made a recommendation to look at reintroducing Trumpeter Swans in Ontario. In 1982, with the Ministry's approval, Harry initiated the exciting, groundbreaking restoration program. Although Harry had been at the Ministry of Natural Resources for 40 years, and at the Wildlife Research Station for 25 years, this was probably the biggest and most exciting project he was to undertake in his career. The project is so consuming, Harry continues to head the program to this day, usually at his own expense, in spite of having retired in 1988. Harry's house backs onto some ponds that serve as a hospice where he keeps a number of widowed, injured and ageing swans. He also keeps two breeding pairs.

Wye Marsh joined the program in 1987 when they built a compound and bought their first breeding pair, Big Guy and Lady Girl. The program was dependent on volunteer cooperating breeders, who would foster captive breeding pairs and pass the cygnets over to the program for eventual release into the wild. Some of these cygnets went to Wye Marsh until they are old enough to be released.

On June 26, 1990, Whe Marsh's first two cygnets were hatched. As the swan-keeper Mary Cameron fed the cygnets during the first week, one particularly delightful little cygnet appeared hungrier than the other as she pushed her way to the front and gobbled up more seed than her sibling did. Unfortunately, the shyer baby was predated by a snapping turtle at 8 days. However, the survivor seemed rather outgoing as she grabbed food from her father's mouth. She was generally a very messy little eater having food remnants all over her front. Mary used to say: "My! Aren't you just a little piggy?" and when she was tagged and sexed, they found she was a female, or a pen (the male is a cob) and hence the name, Pig Pen.

Mary's notes often referred to little Pig Pen as being precocious and more curious than the other cygnets in the marsh, and her outgoing personality made her stand out. In one entry, Mary noted that the cygnet was pretty cocky. As long as Mom and Dad were behind her, she'd go to the fenced-in cygnets, and bite them. She loved lettuce and followed Mary around who couldn't resist giver her extra lettuce treats. In June 1991, Mary noted: "Pig Pen now comes when I call her even though there is plenty of natural food for her in the marsh. Pig Pen seems to be more advanced than the other birds. She is more vocal, bobs her head more than the others (a type of communication) and seems to be more aware of her surroundings."

That same month, Mary found a feather – a sign that moulting had begun and new flight feathers were coming in. The cygnets were growing up and on July 24, 1991, Pig Pen was spotted flying high over the marsh. Once she started to fly, she seemed to have heard the expression: "The sky's the limit!", and started to explore her new world.

In March 1992, 2-year old Pig Pen flew on her own all the way to Burlington and on April 8^th was back at the Wye Marsh. It turns out that she was surveying wintering sites for her future family. On her return, she found a boy-friend and it was noted on April 18^th that they had started bonding. Her new mate was another released male from the program. They spent the winter of 92-93 together in Wye Marsh, and on June 10^th, 1993, 7 cygnets were hatched from 7 eggs but one cygnet was lost to predation.

In October 1993, Pig Pen was shot in the wing while teaching her cygnets to fly. She swam from one end of the marsh to the other to get back to her family, and it wasn't until the next morning that the swan keepers were able to capture her to bring her to a vet. It was decided that the placement of the pellet was not ultimately dangerous. It was riskier to remove the pellet than to leave it alone, and so it remains in her wing to this day.

Prior to Pig Pen's inaugural trip in 1992, there was concern that not one of the Trumpeters in the program had ever migrated. A study that took years to complete was undertaken at great expense and effort. Canada Geese were enlisted to see if humans could teach waterfowl to follow an ultralight aircraft to migrate. The year the first successful flight to Airlie, Virginia took place was the year 3-year old Pig Pen returned to Burlington! The year was 1993, and on December 13, she was back in Bronte with her mate and 6 cygnets. Pig Pen and her family were the first free-nesting Trumpeter Swans to migrate and breed in 200 years in Ontario! (Fifty-eight Trumpeters wintered in Burlington in 2000-2001).

The winter of 1993-94 was unusually harsh. That was the winter Lake Erie froze over and Lake Ontario almost did. Harry Lumsden was deeply concerned the swans would move further south for the winter. This migration would pose serious risks: they could fly into high-tension wires, and hunting swans is legal in some states. In addition, many ponds are riddled with lead shot, which leads to lead poisoning in waterfowl, causing 90% of the mortality rate among young swans. Harry enlisted the help of Bev and Ray Kingdon, who live in Burlington.

Well, Bev and Ray had never seen these particular swans and had no idea how to get a wild swan's cooperation to come in close enough to be fed. Bev asked Mary what to do, and was told this swan answered to the name "Pig Pen". Bev had real misgivings about standing on the lakeshore in the middle of Burlington calling out "Pig Pen!" But she did, and the swan not only answered with a honk, but she and her family swam right over to Bev, who was somewhat taken by surprise by the swan's quick reaction and had no food to offer. Bev and Ray scampered to get a white bucket and corn feed and went back to the beach. As the snow banks were unusually high, they had to tie a rope onto the bucket to lower it down to the swans. The feeding program had started!

Harry stated in a report: "The winter of 1993-94 was one of the hardest in many years. The brood would almost certainly have moved further south if steps had not been taken to encourage them to stay. Bev and Ray and their friends conscientiously fed the swans throughout the winter and they all survived in this lead-free environment". "It may have helped that the swans had always been fed from a hopper made from a white plastic bucket with a slot cut out in the side. They were familiar with it and fed readily out of it at Bronte."

Well, the pioneer family survived the winter and migrated back to Wye Marsh that spring and another brood was raised. In December 1994, on their way back to Burlington, at a rest stop at Professor Lake near Brampton, the male refused to continue to fly on with Pig Pen. It is not known if he was sick or injured, but it was assumed he was stricken by lead poisoning. She continued on with the cygnets to Lake Ontario and spent the winter alone with her youngsters. When she returned to Wye Marsh, she found a new mate and they raised a family. The following spring, upon their return from Burlington, Pig Pen found her first mate waiting for her on the original nest! It seemed he had recovered and was back in business. Mate Number 2 was not amused and a fierce, bloody fight broke out. Mate Number 1 won the Number 2 was ousted. He eventually settled down with one of Pig Pen's daughters.

On March 1 1999, tragedy struck when Mate Number 1 was found dead with one of his cygnets at Wye Marsh. In a recovery program such as this one, each life is extremely precious. The loss of one swan is a serious setback, but two is devastating. Pig Pen flew over the marsh for weeks, calling for her mate.

At one point, Bev had noted a white spot in Pig Pen's right eye, maybe due to an infection, and ultimately she lost her sight in that eye. Sadly, it appears that because of her blind eye, Pig Pen has now been relegated to the bottom of the pecking order amongst the other Trumpeters. Bev was heartbroken last winter when she simply could not get any food to her special bird, as the other swans would not let Pig Pen in close enough to feed. Her new mate is young and inexperienced and was a total failure when it came to protecting his mate. Indeed, he seemed only interested in feeding himself. As a result, Pig Pen no longer went to LaSalle or Burlington where the other Trumpeters go, but stayed in Bronte, where at 4:00 p.m. on most afternoons Bev would find her and give her and her family their share of corn.

Although there is plenty of food in the lake for the swans, whole corn rounds out their diet and provides that extra nutrition that could give them an edge to help them fight off disease. The feeding program will cease once the flock becomes self-sustaining.

Over the years, Pig Pen has cultivated a number of human friends in Burlington and on Georgian Bay and apparently, had a busy social life. Mary Cameron had heard several stories about Pig Pen. It seems she would do her rounds. One man reported that she would often show up at his fishing boat and accept her share of one of his hot cross buns. Another woman related that she likes to swim lengths in a channel and Pig Pen would regularly show up to keep her company while swimming back and forth with her. There is another story of a woman who was always delighted to see Pig Pen show up at her dock and would offer the swan her favourite lettuce treats.

In March 2001, Pig Pen left Burlington forever. She migrated toward Wye Marsh, and although her three cygnets had been spotted, her arrival had not been immediately recorded. It seems the lady is somewhat secretive at nesting time, and she has been known to nest in a small marsh just off of Georgian Bay, in a area that is only accessible by plane. Finally, on April 23^rd, a pilot from Penetanguishene reported that he had spotted Pig Pen while flying over her old nesting site. She and her mate were nesting once again, and her three year-old cygnets were in the area.

In May, Angela Coxon, Wye Marsh's current swan-keeper, received an urgent phone call from a concerned citizen that Pig Pen was on Georgian Bay, (not far from her nesting site) holder her wing at a strange angle. Angela rushed out to the area and spent over two hours wading knee-deep in freezing water, trying to lure the badly injured bird while her mate was fussing nearby. She was brought to the Wild Bird Clinic at Guelph University, and Angela was told it appeared a boat had rammed her. Her wing was severely broken and she only had a 50% chance of ever flying again. She underwent surgery, when seven pins were installed in her wing. The staff at the clinic were well aware of heir patient's special status and provided her with loving care. She has fought infection and although she nearly died, did not recover enough to return to Midland at the OSPCA Wildlife Rehab Centre for the summer. Then a bone infection set in, which halted healing and began destroying the bone. She was transported back and forth to Guelph for x-rays and surgeries once every two weeks. Brave Pig Pen has been a fighter through the whole ordeal. Angela writes: "She even grew to love the van rides back and forth to Guelph! She would trumpet in time with my opera music, and always position herself in such a way that she could look out the window and watch where we were going. I even changed my route from the 401 to the back country roads so she would have more to look at, and enjoy a quieter trip! She's quite a lady, and even though I have worked with swans for just under a year, I have grown to respect her greatly. I am treating her daughter for lead poisoning right now, and she has the same fighting spirit as her mother!"

In September, poor Pig Pen was plagued with infection again, and was brought back to Guelph. At the end of October, her prognosis had taken a turn for the worse, and a positive outcome became doubtful. She was suffering from pneumonia and had three strains of bacteria that were not responding to the super-drug antibiotics. Her spirits were low and Angela was told to prepare for the worst. Clinic staff had tried every trick modern medicine could offer without success. In a last-ditch effort, there was only one trick left – an old fashioned remedy. When I asked Angela what happened next, this is what she wrote: "Well… after the length of time this has gone on for, I can still only bring myself to be cautiously optimistic. They started to pack Pig Pen's wound with sugar. The same principles apply as to when one uses sugar with making jam or canning preserves – the high sugar concentration prevents the growth of bacteria or the dying of tissue. When they checked Pig Pen's would a week later, they found that most of the infection had left, that new tissues and bone were growing again, and that there was no more dead bone! There is till a bit of bacteria in there… so time will tell. It's also too early to know what will happen with Pig Pen this winter. She's been kept indoors all year, so she couldn't just be thrust outdoors. There is also the question of whether or not she has sustained total nerve loss (and thus control) of the wing from all of the surgery. We have to get her wing strong again, her waterproofing back, and get her semi-adapted to the cold again. Until she looks as if she is able to protect herself against the cold, she will stay at Wye Marsh in an outdoor holding pen. I'll put her indoors at night in a small shed. Once I'm satisfied that she's as close to 100% as possible, she will spend the rest of the winter with Harry. In his ponds she will be allowed to choose another mate. Then if all is ready, she will return to Wye Marsh with her new mate, to her "retirement home".

*Note: Pigpen succumbed to her injuries and infections in Guelph, only a few days before she was to come home to the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre.