Trumpeter Swan re-introduction is successful hereabouts

Photo by BarrytheBirder

MMMMTRUMPETER SWANMMMM

Cygnus buccinator

Pictured here are an adult and three younger Trumpeter Swans which are currently thriving at a private woodland pond near Newmarket.   There are three other adults at the same site.   Together, they make for a game of swans; game being the collective noun applied to swans.   The three younger swans still have faint traces of dinginess in their colouration (barely visible in this photo) but will be snowy white, like the adult at left, in short order.   Trumpeter Swans (along with the Tundra Swan) were hunted to extirpation, in Ontario, during the late 1800s.   Recovery began after protective legislation was passed in 1916.   The swans returned early on to the more remote regions of Ontario, such as Hudson Bay, but it is only now, almost 100 years later, that these huge, beautiful creatures are once again breeding locally.   Even then, it is only happening with the hands-on encouragement and protection of local land-owners and the determination of wildlife agencies.   Most noted, in this regard, is the distinguished Harry Lumsden, of Aurora, who, more than anyone, has been the Trumpeter's foster parent in Ontario.   Please comment if you wish.
BtheB