Trumpeter Swans

Trumpeter Swans. . This marsh area is the nesting and year-round home of the rare trumpeter swan. In winter months as many as 60-90 trumpeter and tundra swans find a haven on the National Elk Refuge because warm springs provide some ice-free open waters.

By the early 1930's fewer than 100 trumpeter swans survived outside of Alaska. They were driven to the most remote areas by market demand for quill pens and powder puffs of swans down. Habitat loss additionally reduced their numbers until only western Montana and the Yellowstone region sheltered remnant populations of the largest of all North American waterfowl.

In 1935, a portion of the Centennial Valley in Montana was set aside as the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge to protect the nesting and wintering grounds of the trumpeter swan. The refuge, along with areas protected by the boundary of Yellowstone National Park, preserved a nucleus of nesting swans. With man's help, these birds expanded their numbers, and today trumpeter swans nest and raise their young in Grand Teton national Park and the National Elk Refuge north of Jackson.

Most of the trumpeters in this area are not migratory. They spend their entire life within a tri-state area along the borders of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Despite the hardships, the swans seem to be doing well and it is encouraging to know that swans and their habitat are being protected.