Article by Dee Renee Ericks

Photo and video by Bob Phreaner

The 2023–2024 OPAS Swan Study is now underway with a strong early season start! Surveyors and experienced observers have been recording swan overflights and Trumpeter Swans on the ground.

On October 24th, eight Trumpeter Swans roosted at Kirner Pond which was the first known Clallam County sighting this season. These eight consisted of a very successful Trumpeter Swan pair with six juveniles. Bob Phreaner routinely monitors Kirner Pond at sunrise and now looks forward to seeing the unusual family with the “six pack”.

Bob reports this morning that 26 adults and 8 juvenile swans took off from Kirner Pond to the west. Their flight elevation was such that they would have collided with the old power-lines. Honking with gusto, the swans passed less than 10 feet over his head, so close that he could feel the wind beneath their wings as they flapped. Bob is happy to see that the ratio of juveniles to adult swans seems higher than in previous years.

Bob expresses his concern for the lack of local forage crops available to swans. Recent harvesting practices now cut corn stalks close to the ground leaving little for the swans to glean. Fields have been plowed under. If swans cannot find food here, they will have to move on.