No Swan Song: Trumpeter’s population doubles at Viking Lake

Nearly two years after their return to Iowa, the population of trumpeter swans at Viking Lake State Park has doubled.

On May 9, 2013, four swans were released into the lake near Stanton as part of an effort to repopulate the species in Iowa. Trumpeter swans had not been seen in the state since the 1880s prior to their recent release into the wild.

Since the original four were released in 2013, the swan population has grown to nine at the lake. This is a positive sign, according to Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife technician David Hoffman who said that one of their goals is “to restore the [swan] population in south¬ern Iowa.”

While the birds migrate to warmer locations as far south as Texas when it is cold, the majority return to the loca¬tion where they were released. Hoffman said that most return within 50 yards of their origi¬nal release location.

“It’s amazing how [the swans] imprint on an area,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman said that the main goal of the restoration project is to develop self-sustaining, breeding pairs of swans. The department currently has a goal of 50 breeding pairs in the state.

The main problem with the project is that about 75 per¬cent of the swans die before they reach their breeding age, which is six years for females and four years for males. Hoffman said the deaths are due to things such as lead shot, fishing sinkers, illegal shoot¬ings and power line collisions.

Fortunately, Hoffman said that the project has been suc¬cessful thus far and that the DNR plans to release more swans this spring. Right now, Viking Lake is a contender for a release location.

The swans have been popular with visitors to the state park, according to Park Ranger Todd Carrick.

“People love the swans,” Carrick said. “We even get phone calls every once in a while. It’s just a majestic bird to look at. The population hasn’t always been great and the

DNR and other groups are working hard to build the population back up.”
Although the swans stay mostly around the park, they do tend to leave during the busy season.

According to Carrick, the swans tend to go somewhere else during the summer when the visitors and boats come out.

“Usually what happens is this park is so busy and we get so much activity,” Jason Hyde, a Natural Resource Technician at the park, said. “[The original four] stayed around until we got busy and they actually hit some farm ponds on the outside of the park and that’s where they were spending the summer at.”

Although the swans gener¬ally stay away during the busy, summer season, they return to Viking Lake State Park which they’ve imprinted as their home.