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Teton Regional Land Trust works with willing landowners in Eastern Idaho to conserve their property for farms and ranches and fish and wildlife habitat for future generations.

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Swan Nesting Project Will Benefit Yellowstone Birds

Photo By Timothy C. Mayo

Trumpeter Swans are one of our region’s most iconic birds. They are the heaviest bird species in North America but their size seems less impressive when compared to their elegance and their charismatic nature. In the Yellowstone region, trumpeter swans can be seen and heard year round in ponds, rivers and streams. These beautiful birds were hunted almost into extinction in this region early in the 20th century but with careful management were brought back to stable and relatively healthy numbers. Unfortunately, the Greater Yellowstone trumpeter swan nesting population is struggling. Biologists are seeing fewer nesting trumpeter swan pairs in our region especially in Yellowstone National Park.

In an effort to increase the Greater Yellowstone population of trumpeter swans, Teton Regional Land Trust has teamed up with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Wyoming Wetlands Society, Trumpeter Swan Society and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to encourage additional trumpeter nesting in the Yellowstone Region and specifically in the Teton Valley.

This unique partnership, with support from the Pacific Flyway Council, seeks to continue protecting important nesting habitat and encourage young trumpeter swans to establish nesting sites in Teton Valley. In late August, a protected wetland on a conservation easement property in in Teton Valley will become home for 5 young trumpeter swans (called cygnets). A foster mother will also be released with the quintet of cygnets to help them learn to feed on their own and to keep them safe. The captive bred cygnets will join wild birds during the fall migration and, with a little luck, will return to their surrogate home in Teton Valley to raise their own young in the future.

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