Hobbies And Interests
Trumpeter Swans
Trumpeter swans are the largest waterfowl native to North America. During the summer season these swans nest in swamps, marshes and shallow forest ponds, and forage underwater for plant leaves and stems. They also use their feet to dig up roots from the bottom sediments. Favorite foods include waterweed, sago pondweed, water milfoil and duck potato, but they also like arrowhead, bur reed, bulrush, sedges and wild rice. When the cygnets first hatch, they eat water beetles and small crustaceans for the first three weeks, but then begin to switch over to plant foods. By the age of five weeks, the young swans eat only plants. In their winter habitats, trumpeter swans eat upland grasses and waste corn in farm fields.
Tundra Swans
Tundra swans are smaller than trumpeter swans, but more numerous. They also have a larger range and nest throughout the North American tundra regions in Alaska and Canada. While nesting, they feed on aquatic plants such as sago pondweed, clasping leaf pondweed and wigeon grass. Tundra swans winter along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts where they add wild celery to their diet, as well as waste corn, soybeans and winter wheat shoots.
Mute Swans
Mute swans originated in Europe and were imported to New York about 1900 for use as ornamental birds in parks, zoos and estates. However, between 1910 and 1912, an unknown number of these birds either escaped or were released, and a wild population began to grow. Today, mute swans inhabit areas around the Great Lakes and along the Atlantic Coast, including Chesapeake Bay. These birds are voracious eaters of submerged aquatic vegetation, consuming up to 8 lbs. daily. Rapidly growing mute swan populations are endangering aquatic environments in several states because they eat large quantities of vegetation and destroy even more with their foraging habits.
Threats to Swan Habitats
About half of the trumpeter and tundra swan populations winter in the northwest portion of Washington, where they feed on crop waste and cover crops planted to enhance the soil over the winter. They particularly like residue from potato, carrot and corn crops, as well as grasses grown in dairy farm pastures. However, increased urban development is taking away some of these farm fields, while in other cases, the swans cause such significant damage to fields that farmers drive them away. In these situations, conservationists work with the land owners to find compromises that ensure a continued food supply for the swans.