Trumpeter Swans at Big Island Lake Wilderness Area

Over the past five years, we have had the pleasure of watching the Trumpeter Swan population increase in the area. We have one pair which nests in the adjacent wetlands, and brings their cygnets to our lakefront area, and into the yard for grass and sun.

The largest North American swan, the male stands almost four feet tall and they have a wing span of about seven feet. The swans bugle loudly on their way in over the tree tops. We will hear them come before they land. Our lake is so quiet you can hear the wind rushing beneath their wings as they brake to land.

The swans return about April, and I was surprised this spring to look out and see swans coming up the hill from the lake to investigate the yard and our bird feeder. After their cygnets were about the size of a duck, but not able to fly, the family disappears. Later in the summer the swans fly back, this year two of the cygnets of the four made it to fledge.




They came and went from the lake this fall, and finally after the ice was almost closed, they left for the year.

A week ago, I saw a flock of ten, bugling, heading south. I will miss that sound.