Wildlife In The News

LITTLE ROCK – More young trumpeter swans have been brought into Arkansas and released into the wild.

The Iowa to Arkansas relocation project, a three-year experimental effort, needs reports of sightings of swans to help track their movements. Reports of any swans seen in Arkansas – trumpeters, tundras or mutes – should be sent to Karen Rowe, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission non-game migratory bird program coordinator. Her e-mail address is krowe@agfc.state.ar.us.

Rowe asked that persons sighting swans provide as much information as possible. She needs date of sighting; number of swans; swan species (trumpeter, tundra, mute); if the swans are wearing collars, color of collar and alpha numeric code; specific location (GPS location if known, county, nearest town); name of landowner if known; habitat type (fallow crop field, wheat field, pond, large lake, marshy wetland etc.); and the reporting person’s name and contact information.

Fifteen young trumpeter swans were released recently in Arkansas after being brought from Iowa. Eleven were released at Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge, near Dardanelle, and four were released at the Boxley Valley mill pond on the Buffalo National River in western Newton County.

The latest swan releases were the second segment of a three-year program of Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission..

Ron Andrews and Dave Hoffman of the Iowa DNR brought the young trumpeter swans to Arkansas. Also participating in the project are Buffalo National River and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Iowa to Arkansas translocation of trumpeter swans is an experiment to see if migrating instincts can be encouraged for the birds. In 2008, 20 young trumpeter swans were brought from Iowa to Arkansas. The exact number to be moved in 2010 depends on swan reproduction in Iowa as well as observation of the birds already moved to Arkansas.

Trumpeter swans are increasing in Arkansas, and they are occasionally seen in several parts of the state in addition to Magness Lake, where they have been wintering since the early 1990s.

More information on swans in Arkansas can be found in the February 25, 2009 issue of Arkansas Outdoors Newsletter a publication of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.