There was a lengthy New York Times article this week about Ontario's success in reintroducing trumpeter swans, a once-plentiful species which was wiped out in eastern North America by the end of the 19th century. Trumpeter swans are North America’s largest species of waterfowl with a wingspan of 2 metres, or more, and and weighing 8-13 kilograms. Efforts to reintroduce them have gone well, and according to the Times article there are more than 1,000 trumpeters in Ontario that headed north last month, many to raise their next brood. It is a lovely success story which we had the opportunity to witness up-close in the 1990s.
Ruth and I were walking in a Sudbury area conservation area one day when a kayak trailed by young trumpeter swans came along the shore of the lake. It turned out that they were part of the Migratory Bird Research Group, led by Wayne Bezner Kerr. These cygnets were hatched and trained to follow an ultralight plane.
We would go to see the team at work and discovered in conversation that Wayne's wife Rachel (I hope I recall her name correctly!), often immersed in the cold waters of the lake for hours at a time, was pregnant. We invited them to our home for a hot meal one evening and our three children, 11 to 16, were fascinated by their work. We eventually had a potluck at the church where a sizeable group showed up to hear about the project.
In December of that year,1998, the project achieved its goals when a small flock of trumpeters took off near Sudbury and migrated with the ultralight, flying 1300 kilometres (800 miles) south to the Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana.
Years later we would see trumpeter swans at Second Marsh along Lake Ontario and wondered whether they were heading north to the Sudbury area, although other destinations were more likely.
Life in the church can take some unexpected turns, and we're delighted that this "swan song" had a happy ending.
Fielding Park, near Sudbury 2017
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