Trumpeter Swans - Photo: Dee Renee Ericks

TRUMPETER/TUNDRA SWAN STUDY

Each winter OPAS partners with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Northwest Swan Conservation Association to conduct a weekly survey of swans in the Sequim-Dungeness area. This citizen science project began in the winter of 2011–2012. Volunteers collect data on swan numbers and habitats used for daytime feeding and night roosting. OPAS also watches for and notifies WDFW when injured swans are seen, to assess the swan’s need for rehabilitation, or when swans seem to be causing damage to farmers' crops, to consider if efforts should be taken to protect marketable produce.

OPAS Swan Study update: 2023–2024 season summary

OPAS Swan Team's 2023–2024 data-analysis graphics here

by Liam Antrim and Laura Davis

While our 2023–24 monitoring of overwintering swans in the lower Dungeness Valley followed the patterns of a typical season, strong differences in the weather made that winter unique. Through thirteen years of this study led by OPAS volunteers, we have learned that there is no typical year. On October 24, we appreciated a stunningly successful Trumpeter Swan family with six juveniles who had arrived early and targeted the Kirner Pond roosting site north of Woodcock Road. Across the area the next morning we witnessed many waterfowl overhead and flying southeast in strong winds, including nearly 100 Tundra and Trumpeter Swans. Their autumn migration had reached our area, and some Trumpeters stopped to overwinter with us. Swans remained in our area through early April – a 169-day winter season.

El Niño was expected for the winter months and, as forecasted, produced temperatures warmer than normal throughout fall and early winter. According to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) Kyle Spragens, warmer conditions allowed Trumpeter Swans to overwinter further inland and north than usual as freshwater habitats remained ice free and accessible. Swan distribution was less compressed, and fewer swans reached our coastal location.

A major weather anomaly for this winter was the severe cold snap and snow that broke through the El Niño weather in mid-January 2024. Subfreezing temperatures lasted about three days, yet ice persisted for a couple of weeks on ponds and wetlands (Kirner Pond/Gaskell Slough, a pond in Happy Valley, Cat Lake and the Gierin Marsh at Graysmarsh Farm) affecting roosting, foraging and freshwater supply for swans in the lower Dungeness area. The regional extent and severity of the freezing conditions tested the swans' resilience and certainly concerned us. However, swan-team members found them on saltwater bays, primarily in Dungeness Bay (high count of 61), but also Washington Harbor and off Jamestown Beach. After landscapes thawed out, approximately the same number of swans remained in our area and returned to the freshwater roosting locations.

All tallied, our seasonal average of 56 swans observed foraging at midday weekly was 40% of the average of 143 swans from the previous five winters (Figure 2). Our high foraging count for the winter was 89 swans. The majority of swans left us between March 13 and 19, with only a few swans lingering east of the Sequim-Valley airport on pasture and green, winter-planted grain.

Numbers of migratory swans were low this past winter throughout northwest Washington and lower here than we'd ever seen. WDFW, Northwest Swan Conservation Association, and partners conduct a single annual mid-January survey count after the lengthy period of fall migration, when the overwintering swans populations are most stable. For 2024, their count of approximately 7,700 Trumpeter Swans (TRUS) in the survey area was 60% of the average for the preceding four years. WDFW considers that low regional swan counts these past two years, 2022–24, compared with 2016–22, were likely influenced by a combination of factors including poor warm-season nesting conditions, expanded wintertime distribution, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) and the unusual weather conditions from breeding to overwintering grounds experienced by the TRUS Pacific Coast Population.

During the two coldest weeks of January, we assisted with WDFW's mid-winter survey and broadened the extent of our surveys east to Chimacum Creek in Jefferson County and west to the Wa'atch River near Neah Bay. While we counted 76 Trumpeter Swans in the lower Dungeness, 90 Trumpeters and one Tundra Swan foraged on rain-flooded pasture adjacent to Chimacum Creek where, during this icy spell, it was warmer than the lower Dungeness by five degrees Fahrenheit. This is our first known record of a higher count of swans on that valley's watery agricultural landscape than in our rain-shadow location. Two adult TRUS were seen both weeks at the Wa'atch River west of Neah Bay.

Habitat and Adjacency – Through our six years of studies of both foraging and roosting locations used by swans, it has become increasingly clear that swans adjust their usage to minimize the energy expended flying between their day and night-time locations. In mid-January when Kirner Pond was frozen and unavailable for roosting, swans also stopped foraging efforts on nearby fields. When swans roosted on Dungeness Bay, we saw them heading to daytime forage on a fallow carrot field at the nearby Clapp Farm. Swans roosting at Gierin Marsh were tracked to a field just north of the marsh or immediately east to the Mid-Valley Farm on Sequim-Dungeness Way. Similarly, we followed swans foraging in Agnew to nearby roosting at Solmar Lake.

Foraging – Both well-managed grass pastures and harvested corn fields with actively growing winter-grain cover crop are what swans found and chose for forage in the lower Dungeness area. Figure 3 presents swan foraging preferences summarized over the entire winter season and Figure 4, below, shows how forage preferences changed over the course of the winter.

From late October through early January, most swans were foraging east of the Dungeness River on harvested corn fields and pasture grasses. Throughout the area, harvested corn fields turned green with over-planted winter grain and attracted foraging swans by mid-December. By January, swan foraging shifted westward and swans were distributed across both sides of the river – their focus remaining on fields of pasture grass and the winter grain growth on harvested corn fields.

A significant change from past years was that very few swans were seen on fields adjacent to Schmuck Road and Port Williams Road; swans were there only during the last two weeks of January. It seems unlikely that forage was inadequate as fields with pasture and corn/winter cover crop were available in this area. Another curious location use occurred in March, when swans were seen for the first time on an irrigation pond adjacent to Spath Road; we spotted swans repeatedly flying there during the day from foraging fields east of the airport though they never stayed on the pond for night roosting. We suspect it offered a valued nearby daytime source of the drinking water needed for digestion.

Farming practices – On January 8 we became concerned for foraging swans after we noticed herbicide had been applied to the portion of pasture southeast of Towne and Woodcock roads. This field had hosted the majority of foraging swans in December. Swans were periodically seen here as plants turned orange and died. Over time, the number of swans foraging on this treated pasture decreased, with the last sighting of two Trumpeters on January 23.

Just west of Towne and Woodcock roads, a short distance further from Kirner Pond, farmers planted a new carrot field on the recently conserved “No-Goat Farm”. We monitored this field for swan usage out of concern that swans would discover and consume the crop or strike the power lines above both roads. When mid-January sub-freezing temperatures were forecasted the farmer shielded the crop with fabric row covers to both protect from the potential damage of freezing conditions and swans. Fortunately for the farmer and we human consumers, no swans were ever seen near the carrots, even with some roots exposed and visible.

During the first two surveys of February, we spotted swans on Graysmarsh-owned fields east of Wilcox Lane. Pulling at a patch of tall Brussels sprouts adjacent to a grain and winter wheat field, the swans did move on and we never heard of any crop damage.

Roosting – We gather valuable, detailed roosting data from dedicated volunteers who observe ponds on a more-or-less daily basis at Kirner Pond, near Happy Valley, Three Crabs Road, and between Sequim and Port Angeles. Observations at Kirner Pond often numbered from two to four dozen swans roosting overnight prior to the cold front; relatively few swans returned after waters thawed. In the Happy Valley area, up to 28 swans were roosting in late October to early November, but their numbers dropped by mid-November to only a few swans. At Roberta's Pond at Three Crabs Road, swans were only seen two mornings immediately following the arctic front, plus a single dawn early in spring migration. No swans were observed at the pond between Sequim and Port Angeles this season.

Our teams completed four dawn surveys of all known roosting sites monthly from December to March. In early December, we found most swans roosting on Kirner Pond and adjacent Gaskell Slough. In early January, the usage extended to the Northern Conservation Farm – the waterfowl-hunting ponds west of Olympic Game Farm. With mid-January's cold snap, swans abandoned frozen waters of Kirner Pond for a couple weeks; few returned to Kirner after the ice cleared. A few swans were seen throughout these monthly surveys at Cat Lake. In early February and early March, most swans roosted on Gierin Marsh (Graysmarsh) and Northern Conservation Farm. Immediately after the February roosting survey, seeing swans on Agnew pasture led us to track the swans to our first documentation of swan-roosting at Solmar Lake.

Roosting and foraging swan counts this year varied by 3 to 7 swans within the same week for several reasons, including swans moving or hidden from view and limitations on the area we survey.

Advocacy – The Port of Port Townsend recently purchased the 253-acre Short’s Family Farm in the Chimacum Creek Valley of Jefferson County and have worked to prepare a farm plan meeting targeted objectives of agricultural land conservation and drainage. Following consultation with Jefferson Audubon, the OPAS swan team submitted comments focusing on the importance of the site's wetland habitats to swans and other migratory waterfowl.

Injuries/mortalities – There were three reported swan mortalities in the lower Dungeness Valley this past winter. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was not indicated in any of them, nor were there any known cases in Clallam or Jefferson County. There was, however, an early season outbreak of HPAI in cackling geese on an irrigation pond near Schmuck and Port Williams Roads. Early in the season a Trumpeter died after crashing into a home west of Cat Lake; this swan tested negative for HPAI. In mid-December, a pile of swan feathers was found near Palo Alto Road but too little remained to determine cause of death. Lastly, in late March, an electrocuted TRUS was found under the power lines along Cook Road. A few days after WDFW reported this incident to Clallam PUD, line markers were added to all power lines of concern in the area to mitigate the risk of future collisions.

For further information on the 2023–24 swan season, see our Conservation Matters column from the March–April edition of Harlequin Happenings.

OPAS Swan Study update: 2022–2023 season summary

You can find the OPAS Swan Team's 2022–2023 data-analysis graphics here.

Published December 13, 2023

by Laura Davis and Liam Antrim

The 2022–2023 winter was the 12th year of swan monitoring in the lower Dungeness Valley by OPAS-led volunteers. At the end of an unusual season that kept us on our toes, our last overwintering swans left the lower Dungeness Valley to head north at the very beginning of April.

Data from our weekly foraging surveys this season showed an average of 129 Trumpeter Swans, slightly lower than than six of the past seven years. (See Figure 1.) About 60% of observed foraging was east of the Dungeness River and 40% on the west. Corn, grain, and seed dominated November forage, which was observed west of the Olympic Game Farm, along Sequim-Dungeness Way south of Woodcock, and in the Schmuck Road area. Use of pasture grasses and fallow fields picked up in December in fields the length of Schmuck Road, west and east of the river near Woodcock Road, and near the Dungeness Creamery. Daytime use focused from January to season end on pasture grasses or hay fields, as is typical for the late winter; these fields were almost exclusively in the Port Williams Road and Schmuck Road area and east of the Sequim Valley Airport. (See Figure 2.)

Our dawn surveys showed overnight usage at the seven known inland roosting sites, with one addition this season. Swans regularly change locations following changes in forage and water availability, nutritional needs and environmental conditions. Five of eight roosting sites were observed almost daily and others only during our monthly surveys. Highest overnight use occurred at the constructed pond along Woodcock known as Kirner Pond or Gaskell Slough, the hunting club ponds west of the Olympic Game Farm, and the estuary wetlands of Gierin Creek at Graysmarsh. Cat Lake on the Miller Peninsula and a pond south of Bell Hill also were often used by overnighting swans. While distance to preferred forage in agricultural fields can change usage from year to year based on recent plantings, we do see regular use of these two sites every year in spite of their distance from daytime forage. Other sites used by the swans included Roberta's Pond near Three Crabs, a pond southwest of Highway 101 and Agnew, plus new use this season at a constructed irrigation reservoir near Port Williams Road.

From the late October 2022 start of our swan season, we observed strikingly unusual patterns in our local swan counts. We saw a stronger November influx of swans than the team has ever recorded, surging rapidly to a peak count of 201 swans on November 23. About half moved on by the end of November; then our counts picked up again by 20% at the beginning of December and held steady through early February. (See Figure 3.) Other areas in western Washington also experienced this November population surge. We also saw in mid-November more Tundra Swans than usual – eleven swans where we otherwise have counts of only zero to three Tundras during the season. Further, throughout the season, we had a lower percent of juveniles than ever, an anomaly that was also seen elsewhere within the Pacific Flyway and across all sites in WDFW's annual winter survey. Our observations averaging 6% juveniles were one-third of typical. There are a lot of variables at play, and several factors may have contributed to these two observations.

Migrating birds move seasonally partly as a response to environmental conditions. Our early-season high counts of swans were likely due to early freeze-up in the northern portion of the Pacific Flyway that accelerated the southerly migration. The fact that we experienced not only earlier arrivals here but higher counts of both swan species may relate to the migration route. Swan families accustomed to flying over central British Columbia may have averted from the cold inland temperatures and followed the warmer coast. Flying along Vancouver Island or the west side of mainland British Columbia, both Trumpeter and Tundra Swans would cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca to arrive in our Lower Dungeness area. While we are at the southern end of the Trumpeter Swans' range, Tundra typically pass over the east side of Puget Sound on their flight path south to central California overwintering grounds. Although site fidelity is common in the migrational swans, most will have experienced different routes and stopover sites in different years due to variable conditions.  Changes to the breeding grounds may also cause swans to explore new migration routes that connect up with established ones, according to Martha Jordan of the Northwest Swan Conservation Society. All along the route of travel and on the overwintering grounds, habitat loss can cause swans to keep moving in search of more favorable conditions.

A larger number of total swans returning to ponds also meant more crowding on our local roosting sites. Mid-November, we lost two swans at Kirner Pond to the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). At the same time, we saw more swans overnighting at Kirner Pond than ever before counted, peaking at 200. With concerns of an HPAI outbreak at Kirner Pond, we were relieved to see our area's swan counts decrease and more typical waterfowl densities return by late November. The congested context of a small pond is territory ripe for infection and disease. Limited availability of freshwater habitats in our area may  restrict the waterfowl population that can be sustained locally.

HPAI-infected waterfowl and crowding issues may have motivated some swans to leave our area. We also saw local wind and rain storms kick in after the early-autumn arctic cold front that may have first biased them in our direction. It is a resilient flock that remembers other habitat sites and remains flexible and adaptable.

With regards to local and regional observations of the low percentage of juvenile swans, multiple factors may have been at play. WDFW Waterfowl Section Manager Kyle Spragens noted that the wet, cool spring of 2022 in Alaska's boreal forests delayed nesting on the breeding grounds. Then, in autumn, the sudden early turn to freezing conditions may especially have impacted juvenile swans not ready for migration. It is possible that HPAI also impacted the swans on their breeding groups, however, there is neither qualitative nor quantitative data describing the impacts of HPAI on the Pacific Coast Population (PCP) of swans.

During our 2022–23 season, testing for cause of swan death, illness or injury was limited partly due to concerns about the spread of HPAI. The focus was on retrieving carcasses in a timely manner before predation, and the swan team responded by being observant for impacted birds during regular surveys and beyond. Fortunately, we only had three swans deaths with indications of possible HPAI infection; the two that were tested were positive for H5N1 HPAI.

Lastly, the 2022–23 season brought our team a new observation. During spring, northward migration, swan numbers often increase in the fields around Schmuck and Port Williams roads, and this past season was no exception. What seemed to be different late this winter was the source of midday water. Rather than getting adequate hydration for digestion of forage from wet plants or the water in depressions, we observed swans flying short distances back and forth between a constructed reservoir used to store water for irrigation and the adjacent, farmed fields during the midday. All this movement made locking in flock counts more challenging for our team. We hope next winter brings precipitation more typical to our area to satisfy the needs of our overwintering swans.

Warmer weather is forecasted for the winter 2023–24 season associated with El Niño. Compounded with the complexities of last season, it is impossible to speculate what our next winter season will bring. During their northward, spring migration, the swans encountered exceptionally heavy snow cover in British Columbia. Their lives and trials will continue until we see them again.

You can find the OPAS Swan Team's 2021–2022 data-analysis graphics here.

Watch Video: “Swan Use of Lower Dungeness Habitats: The OPAS Swan Study"

November 16, 2022

by Laura Davis

OPAS Swan Study update  2021–2022 season summary

Published October 29, 2022

by Liam Antrim and Laura Davis

The 2021–2022 winter was the 11th season for Trumpeter Swan (TRUS) monitoring in the lower Dungeness Valley by OPAS-led volunteers. A team of experienced and dedicated volunteers completed 23 weekly daytime/foraging surveys between October 27, 2021 and March 30, 2022. This season's daytime survey efforts totaled 162 volunteer hours in the field and 1,166 driving miles. 

On survey days, swans were first counted on November 2 (3 TRUS) and last seen on March 22 (30 TRUS).  Between mid-November and mid-December, following fall migration, about 80 TRUS were in the area. From early January and until mid-March, swan numbers ranged from about 160 to 180, which aligns well with our data since 2017. The high count for the season was on February 22, with 184 swans.  Percent juveniles was generally at 14–15% for most counts.

We saw between one and three Tundra Swans (TUSW) during our foraging and roosting surveys throughout the season, intermingled with the Trumpeter Swans. From a distance, it can be challenging to distinguish between Tundra from Trumpeter Swans. Proximity and good optics help, as well as focus on their relative size, distinctive bill coloration and markings. 

Foraging – Harvested corn fields in the area of Sequim-Dungeness and Evans roads, Graysmarsh Lane, and Schmuck Road were the initial draw for foraging swans. By the end of November, the corn stubble had been turned under and the swans went elsewhere, west of the river and onto pastures and winter grain cover crops. While swans demonstrated foraging fidelity at some locations (near Evans Road, Clark Farms pasture, Schmuck Rd./Port Williams area, Lamar Lane fields), the birds also sought out new locations in January. Survey teams located swans on pasture and hay fields near the Sequim sewage treatment plant (north of Port Williams Road) and east of the Sequim Valley Airport. By mid-February, foraging swans had completely abandoned former corn fields and were focused on other locations. 

Although about 75% of foraging swans were east of the river on the pasture near Evans Road for the first two survey weeks in February, no swans were counted there on subsequent surveys. A few swans explored new pasture locations off Towne and Medsker roads in mid-February, but on February 22, all swans surveyed east of the river were on fields in the Port Williams and Schmuck roads area. Fields hosting swans west of the river were pasture and hay fields in two general locations – adjacent to the Sequim Valley airport and at the north end of the Wheeler Farm off Ward Road.

Observations of foraging-location usage averaged over the entire survey season are summarized in Figure 2. A few corn fields received 20% of the swan foraging effort overall but this was limited to the fall and early winter. A few acres of carrots accounted for 13% of foraging observations, although this usage only started when the area was hit by a mid-winter cold snap. Pasture and hay fields cover much of managed fields in the lower Dungeness valley. These fields account for nearly 60% of all swan foraging over the winter, with increased use as spring approached.

Martha Jordan, Northwest Swan Conservation Association's Executive Director, provides us with insight into swan foraging on developed landscapes. Swans tend to eat corn and other carbohydrate-heavy foods during the winter months for survival during that time. As they stage for migration, swans tend to prefer grass grown for dairy cow feed, which is typically higher in protein than other grasses.  This can pack on the energy stores for their migration and arrival on breeding grounds in good condition. “Dairy farms are vital to our winter swan's survival” according to Martha Jordan. Before dairy farms, swans likely foraged in marshes, wetland and estuaries which were more abundant before humans ditched, drained, and converted lands for agriculture. 

Because poor visibility hampered WDFW's midwinter aerial surveys, local WDFW wildlife biologist Shelly Ament used our January 25 data for the Sequim-Dungeness component of her work. This season's midwinter data contributed to the five-year North American Trumpeter Swan Survey which had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Roosting – About a dozen volunteers participated in dawn roosting surveys organized each month between November and March. We regularly survey at Kirner Pond/Gaskell Slough, Roberta's Pond near 3 Crabs, Gierin Marsh/Graysmarsh, hunting-club ponds west of the Olympic Game Farm (PWGF), Cat Lake on the Miller Peninsula, a private pond near Happy Valley and another private pond between Sequim and Port Angeles. We see that swans typically depart roosting sites shortly after sunrise, but they sometimes linger further into the morning at Gierin Marsh and Cat Lake, perhaps benefiting from available wetland forage.  

Roosting counts were 5–10% higher than daytime forage counts on both December and February surveys, which indicates swans foraging beyond the reach of our daytime surveys.

Frigid conditions in late December led to ice cover at most freshwater roosting sites into early January, and some nighttime usage was observed on Dungeness Bay and Clapp Farm. By the January 19th roosting survey, ice had thawed but patterns of roosting and foraging had shifted and about 75% of the swans were located roosting on Gierin Marsh on the Graysmarsh property. John Gussman's drone photography has proven the best method for ensuring a thorough count at this location, although we cannot identify swan species or age. On February 17, half of our swans were on Gierin Marsh, followed by Roberta's Pond and Kirner Pond and PWGF. By the time of our March 10 survey, PWGF had been intentionally drained, so there was low water and hence no swan usage. 

Roosting-site neighbors continued daily monitoring at a few sites during the 2021–2022 season. In recent years, the private pond in Happy Valley has been used by dozens of swans, and the pond east of Port Angeles has had consistently at least one regular TRUS group. This winter played out very differently with as many as 55 swans roosting in November in Happy Valley, but no swans seen after early December. At our area's west-most roosting pond, swans were sighted briefly in the fall but none otherwise during the survey season.

Daily roosting monitoring at Kirner Pond (conducted primarily by Bob Phreaner) provided a detailed set of observations at this site. Between mid-November and mid-December, swan counts averaged about 50 per night. In late December, icy roads prohibited these early morning surveys and a frozen pond mostly kept swans elsewhere, except curiously on the morning of January 3 when 33 swans were seen standing on the frozen pond. Ice had melted by late January and swans had returned to Kirner typically numbering between 30 and 70 each morning.  Although in recent years, swans have abandoned usage at Kirner Pond in late January, the swans continued roosting here well into February.  

Hazardous power lines at Kirner Pond had been removed in 2021, motivated by an OPAS-led, crowd-source funded collaboration with Clallam PUD and WDFW.  No swan injury or mortality was noted at Kirner Pond this season, confirming the success of this mitigation.

Mortality and Mitigations – This season, the only reported swan mortalities in the Dungeness Valley were attributed to power line impacts along Evans and Anderson roads. WDFW retrieved three dead swans as well as several Canada geese along Evans Road, although the property owner reported that more fatalities had recently occurred. WDFW, Clallam PUD, and the property owner consulted, and PUD immediately removed a short segment of overhead line across a corn field (power to a summer-use irrigation pump). Clallam PUD and the property owner reached an agreement, and over the summer of 2022 trenches were dug to bury the lines along Evans Road adjacent to the agricultural fields.  By the third week of October 2022, the trenching was completed, overhead utilities moved underground, and poles removed. No crowd sourced funding was requested for these mitigations. Today there are no overhead obstacles posing hazards to swans in flight at this important location between the Gierin Marsh and Kirner Pond roosting sites.

In the last few days of December 2021 with snow covering the valley, swans discovered an unharvested carrot field at Clapp Farm (southeast of the Anderson and Lotzgesell intersection). On December 29, a swan-team member reported half a dozen swans in the carrots. Swan interest ramped up every day until, four days later, our team saw 96 swans foraging in the field. Some of these carrots were particularly valuable, intended as a seed crop in 2022. The farmers requested assistance through WDFW's Shelly Ament. Starting on January 4th, WDFW, volunteers from the swan team, the farmers, and friends assisted with mitigations. Past experience indicated that poles and flagging would not be adequate to deter the swans from landing in the field – they could land nearby and walk over to the carrots. Ground cover fabric was spread out and surrounded by poles with flagging to cover roughly two-thirds of the carrot field.

Even with ground cloth deployed, swans returned continually to search for carrots on uncovered ground and to work fabric edges to expose more carrots. Through much of January the farmer visited the field several times each day to haze off swans with shouting and arm waving. Martha Jordan has advised us that multiple strategies in combination are always necessary to deter foraging geese and swans. Swans flew back and forth between the carrot field and nearby fields – Clark Farms pasture to the west and a harvested potato field at Delta Farm east of the river – presumably motivated by hazing and other mitigation activities on the Clapp Farm field. Unnecessary flights always pose extra risk to these large birds beyond to the energy resources required.

Where it meets the farmer's needs, covering the crop seems to be a very good option for reliable crop protection. The swans can work around poles and flagging, and irregular hazing does not protect the crop. In this case, the cover fabric did protect some of the covered crop, and carrots in seed were visible over the summer of 2022.

WDFW found one dead juvenile TUSW along Anderson Road near the Clapp farm on January 3, which was confirmed as a power line electrocution. During this time swans were being hazed off the carrot crop and were flying routinely. With advice from WDFW and OPAS, Clallam PUD installed some diverters on power lines in this area. Shelly and the OPAS Swan Safe team will be working with PUD this fall to proactively install additional diverters prior to PUD's busiest season.

OPAS Swan Study update, March 1, 2021:

Stories of Safe Roosting and Partnerships in Place

by Laura Davis and Liam Antrim

Pandemic aside, it's been an unusual year for the swan team as repeated power-line collisions at Kirner Road confirmed it was necessary to take decisive action on a campaign to bury the power lines. We update readers here on the context of these too-often lethal encounters of swans with power lines at the important Kirner Road overnight roosting site. Further, we bring news of positive partnerships between WDFW and our local farmers, and then, tell how we spread our wings wide for a mid-winter survey from Port Townsend to Neah Bay.

~ ~ ~

The winter season started placidly enough. With a steadfast team of experienced swan surveyors and a global pandemic underway, our main concern was for our team members' health and safety. The migratory swans returned early to the Pacific Northwest. Our weekly counts were extraordinarily high in November, and we reached about 200 swans before year end. Mostly it is Trumpeter Swans, but we have also watched a few juvenile Tundra Swans in the mix throughout the season. The Tundras’ Western Population and the Trumpeters’ Pacific Coast Population intermingle as they use the same stopover habitats on their migration along the Pacific Flyway.

This is the third season our local OPAS citizen-science project has conducted regular surveys of night-roosting sites, which help describe more fully the swans’ usage of the north Olympic Peninsula. In the dim light, cold and wind, our hardy and dedicated volunteers record swan usage at the wetland roosting sites – tracking swan numbers, arrivals and departures. The swans give much in return to our volunteers, letting our personal cares roll down their backs in the beauty of the first light of day.

Daily dawn-survey data collected by OPAS swan-study volunteer and Conservation Committee Co-chair, Bob Phreaner, document the ponds and wetlands at Woodcock and Kirner roads as a location consistently favored by the roosting swans for most of the season, with a high tally of 112 swans seen at Kirner Pond and adjacent Gaskell Slough.

Looking at a single place day after day, we learn to see. Observe, and with countless records the patterns of behavior emerge.

The deeper pond and a good vegetative buffer around Kirner Pond seem to protect waterfowl from predators. Also, there's no disturbance at Kirner Pond from the hunting activities experienced at our marsh sites from November through January. Freshwater wetlands are scarce in our location, especially ones with sufficient open water and native vegetation to provide overnight shelter and forage. And location, location: Kirner Pond is not far from agricultural fields and pasture lands for daytime forage. They leave the roosting sites each dawn, feed in the fields, then return again at nightfall.

Trumpeter Swans are one of the heaviest flying birds in the world. To get their 25 pounds aloft requires about 100 yards of “runway” length, and they will typically take off into the wind for the lift needed to fly. Kirner Pond seems to be just large enough for their morning takeoffs. Sufficient wind from the west – the typical direction of the prevailing winds – can help the swans climb quickly and gain enough height to get over the power lines on Kirner Road. These lines are about 35’ higher than the pond’s surface and run along 350' of the pond's west edge. The swans signal to each other with powerful stretches and wing flaps, honks and head bobs. It's time; let's go. With powerful acceleration, it's a run across the water's surface while flapping huge wings. Seeing them take off in a group, Bob likens to a stampede. Whether flying from a field or a pond surface, it is a mighty sight and sound to witness the swans' takeoff.

Collisions can and do occur. While we have otherwise documented swan injury and fatality following winter gales and night flights, Bob’s Kirner Pond data show strikes with power lines occurring during calm conditions, and compounded by poor visibility due to fog, drizzle, and flocks of swans flying at once. Bob sees the swans swim about to detect the wind conditions. Flying up powerfully as a group from the pond's surface, not seeing the wires immediately ahead, and getting caught behind other swans ... there is neither space nor time to make adjustments for safe clearance. While sideways-facing eyes provide excellent peripheral vision to protect the swans from predators, this feature compromises the swans' ability to see the fine power lines. Striking overhead power lines is the largest cause of swan death and injury in our area.

It's twelve minutes before sunrise. A juvenile swan trails behind and below others as a group of 27 takes flight at once. No room to ascend, it flies into a wire, then spins out of control to the road. Stunned, it recovers minutes later, alights and continues off to the west.

Bob uses video to assist his counts at Kirner Pond; on five occasions not halfway through the current season, Bob observed and videotaped swans hitting the power lines with enough force to fall to the road. When their broad wings and massive bodies strike the fixed power lines and then, further, they fall and hit the ground, swans suffer physical injury. The swan's bones are light in weight and weak, making them likely to break their own wing if they strike something like a wire. Sometimes swans that hit wires and fall to the ground find their way down through the vegetation to the pond, paddle over to the far side, and then repeat their attempts to take off.

Whenever swans strike the wires or a lone swan is seen during the day, we assist WDFW by monitoring for injuries – as we did following a fall to the ground on December 3. This swan struggled down through the brush and back to the pond, where it remained for three weeks.

Such a tranquil scene: a swan floating on a pond. The swan floats in the pond seemingly without effort or care, but its presence alone at a roosting site during the day is a sign. It may have injuries that later prove fatal. If we are able to catch an injured swan for rehabilitation, it means the swan has lost the strength to avoid capture by humans approaching in kayaks. A juvenile was recently euthanized after sustaining multiple breaks to its wing. The tissue became infected and the swan grew seriously emaciated over time.

On December 9 one Trumpeter Swan was electrocuted–striking two wires at once. On recommendation from WDFW, Clallam PUD hangs flap-like diverters on the wires to enhance their visibility to birds. Although PUD hung 50 additional diverters, the day following this casualty, these could not address the problem of the swans being able to clear the wires; another swan injury shortly followed. The line marking is a partial mitigation. Where the swans cannot control their flight position, the wires and diverters simply pose a barrier – like a fence, or a wall. Few swans slip between the power lines unscathed.

A deflection of the wire gives us a clue that a swan touched a wire. Aah, a “near miss”. In our minds, the touch of two wires at once causing electrocution is horribly devastating and creates an indelible memory. A swan might strike a wire hard and fall thirty feet to the ground, yet somehow survive. Now the swan fears its exposed position on the road and is on its feet with quick action, scuttling down through the brush back to the safety of the pond. Too often, these strikes and these falls show up as broken ribs, wings and legs. 

WDFW and OPAS have recommended burying the Kirner Road power lines. Working in coordination with the Clallam PUD, we expect to complete construction before the swans return next fall. A special heartfelt thanks to the folks near Kirner Pond who have assisted with monitoring injured swans and those who are now helping OPAS realize the vision of the swans' safe return to Kirner Pond for generations to come. About 19% of the swans visiting our area this year are first-year birds; we expect these swans, their parents, elder siblings, and the next crop of juveniles will arrive at Kirner Pond next year to a quality roosting site free of the hazardous overhead power lines.

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Here in the rain shadow of the Olympics, our area lacks an abundance of the freshwater wetlands that swans prefer and so they turn to our agricultural fields to supplement their diet. Our local swans find nutrition in corn stubble (near Port Williams and Schmuck roads, Sequim-Dungeness near Sunland, and Lamar Lane) especially as the cover crops fill in. With small stomachs they must graze all the time, and pasture grasses help provide sustenance. At the turn of the year, they started gleaning the carrot fields (Ward Road, north of Woodcock). Balancing cool-season farm harvests with supporting wildlife usage can be a challenge.

The swans are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. With a population recovered through active conservation efforts, our native swans are protected in Washington State from hunting and other disturbances.

Many of you may be familiar with the losses to Nash’s crops from foraging swans two years ago. The big snow event of January 2019 led to over-wintering crops being destroyed as swans, geese and ducks found the only green plants above the snow surface. For two days they fed there, undisturbed, on the green leaves they’d normally pass over. Nash had developed these unique brassicas and seed crops over several years of selective breeding. The financial loss was large and the investment in the breeding not recoverable. Farmers generally didn’t blame the birds, instead extended a request to the community who stepped forward with assistance.

Harvesting carrots into January avoids the need for cold storage but does risk overlap with the swan presence in the lower Dungeness Valley. Nash Huber breeds his carrots for the sweet flavor that develops in the cold temperatures. In past years, Nash has declined to disturb the swans on his fields, sometimes harvesting and putting the carrots into cold storage before the swans arrived. This year, he approached WDFW for assistance before a problem developed on his unharvested carrot fields. At the end of November, five swan-team members volunteered for WDFW and placed poles with mylar flags around the carrot field at Ward Road to help deter swans from landing. Like the deterrents on the power lines, this field flagging technique is seen as a partial solution – in this case most effective in combination with hazing. Where swans are considered pests, property owners are advised to use disturbance techniques such as hazing that get birds up and moving out of the area; these would encourage the swans to avoid the field in the future.

A month after pole installation and just as the rains hit, the swans did start making their way in the carrot fields. With soils too mucky for further harvest, Nash decided to open the field to the swans’ gleaning of the remaining carrots.

Watching their heads root around in the muddiest soils of the field, no carrots came up but serrations on their bill edges whittled away at these underground tubers. So tasty and nutritious, plus a win-win for the tilth of the farm soils. We skirted our way around the edge of the field to remove the flagging no longer needed. The swans tolerated our presence for only so long – then up and over they flew to the fallow corn field nearby.

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By request of the NW Swan Conservation Association and WDFW, our swan team partnered again in the realm of data collection for a Mid-winter Swan Survey. Our normal team of four surveyors per week expanded to fifteen, as our guest surveyors participated from eastern Jefferson County to western Clallam County for this January 20 foraging survey. Counts at Cat Lake (Miller Peninsula), Center Road (Chimacum, Jefferson County) and Wa’atch River (Makah Reservation) were added to our local Sequim-Dungeness count of 200 Trumpeter Swans (TRUS) for a north Olympic Peninsula total of 298 TRUS on this date. An interesting result was a finding of 35% juveniles in the Chimacum area, compared to 16–19% in our Sequim-Dungeness area. We speculate there may be some movement between these areas, facilitated by a roosting site on the Miller Peninsula.

Migrations and the associated human partnerships have their seasonal cycles. It is nearing the season’s end, and zugenruhe sets in (migration anxiety). Late March is a good time to watch for swans in the air. Groups may stage themselves on Dungeness Bay, restless. If the conditions are not quite right for a trip across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, they just might remain to forage. Let’s try another day. Keep your eyes and ears open, and you may catch the swans at the start of their journey back north.

OPAS Swan Study early-season update for 2020–2021 (Late Autumn 2020)

by Laura Davis and Liam Antrim

Hats off to all of our volunteers! With both experienced volunteers and new recruits – thirty strong – we survey foraging fields weekly, plus study overnight usage at roosting sites. Foraging surveys started the last week of October with two Trumpeter Swans counted. As of November 25, we have ramped up to 163 Trumpeter swans; roughly 15% are juveniles. We have, in addition, a single juvenile Tundra swan. At this time of the year, the swans are attracted mostly to remnant kernels of corn in harvested fields.

Starting its third year now, our OPAS roosting study is motivated by the team's interest in identifying locations and habitats used overnight by adult swans and families with juveniles – tracking any changes in usage over time. We accumulate these data in a consistent manner, but continue to assess and keep the efforts of this special study meaningful as well as sustainable over time for our volunteers. Freshwater habitats used for roosting by swans are not abundant in our area and some features of roosting sites can present real or perceived hazards to the swans. When collisions with powerlines are observed, we record the conditions that may trigger the impact and consult with WDFW on mitigations.

This year, “site monitors” have been recruited to watch nearby wetlands for overnight swan use. They keep daily notes on numbers and timing of arrivals and departures. These neighbors add another dimension and additional value to this OPAS citizen-science project.

In preparation for this survey season, we spoke with Martha Jordan of the Northwest Swan Conservation Association (NWSCA) and Kyle Spragens, the Wildlife Section Manager at WDFW. WDFW is currently using last season's OPAS swan data to test integration of Trumpeter Swans with a database that supports analysis of wildlife population trends over time: the Wildlife Survey and Data Management (WSDM) database. This is typically used for species of special concern (e.g. endangered or threatened) or species that are hunted in Washington State; the swans are neither. Previously, our data was integrated only into WDFW's Priority Habitats and Species (PHS) database, which is used primarily as a planning tool for local communities to identify habitat types and species distributions.

Although the population of winter swan residents here is not as high as in counties north of Seattle, WDFW sees the OPAS swan surveys as an outstanding example of Citizen Science work generating quality data. Currently, OPAS is the only non-governmental team in the Pacific Northwest conducting regular swan surveys and generating data of sufficient quality for agency databases.

Our swan team also expects to contribute this year to the state-wide, mid-winter swan census that is conducted every five years. This winter’s data will be especially important for population trend analysis because the summer breeding ground census of swans is no longer supported by the Canadian government.

OPAS Trumpeter/Tundra Swan Study, 2019–2020 Season Report (May 2020)

by Laura Davis and Liam Antrim

The agricultural landscapes, man-made ponds and sloughs in Sequim/Dungeness area provide a more complex and variable overwintering habitat than other areas in western Washington used by Trumpeter Swans. While eastern Clallam County has very little of the freshwater wetland habitat that swans prefer, forage opportunity on the area's fertile soils draw Trumpeter Swans to overwinter here. As open spaces, wetland habitats and crop resources are ever in flux, so is the winter distribution of swans.

OPAS has conducted a winter swan survey here on the Sequim/Dungeness delta since the 2011/2012 season. We partner with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Northwest Swan Conservation Association to provide data to the state Priority Habitat and Species database and to help monitor for hazard issues.

The cycles of Pacific Coast swan population and migrations vary each winter around the Salish Sea. From November through March, our OPAS volunteers track the specific locations, forage preferences, and both the day and nighttime habitats the swans use in eastern Clallam County. Our survey high count of 189 Trumpeter Swans this past winter occurred in February 2020, which is when we typically see additional swans stopping here on their northward migration. Since our surveys started in 2011 our high counts have ranged between 99 Trumpeters in 2014–2015 and 258 in 2016–2017, with peaks and lows similar to counts elsewhere around the Salish Sea. 

This winter, the swans foraged more on harvested corn fields than any other food source. Some of these fields were overplanted with winter grains. Cover crops like winter wheat, annual rye and vetch enrich the fallow fields and protect the soils from erosion. Where we might see the stubble of a harvested corn field, the swans find nourishment in both the remnant corn grains and grass-like plants. Each season is different; just three years ago, we saw up to 200 swans foraging at a time on a field of remnant carrots. 

Although the regular, weekly counts of swans during daytime foraging form the core of our citizen-science efforts, we also conduct nighttime roosting surveys. We especially appreciate our enthusiastic volunteers who are willing to bundle up and watch at sunrise and sunset for swans flying between their foraging and roosting sites. Observing the swans at the transition of day and night reveals additional patterns of swan usage, increases our understanding of the rural landscape's value for roosting, and helps us identify powerlines and other hazards in the context of wind, fog and nighttime flight. Watching the swans take to the air gives one huge appreciation for the large “runway” of space needed by a 20-pound swan to get aloft.

We know what attracts many of us to live in this special place – these landscapes we call home. The “rain shadow” of the Olympic Mountains has drawn more and more human residents here. Although eastern Clallam County has limited wetland habitat, the cultivated and irrigated floodplain landscapes help support the swans and other adaptive species that might not otherwise have visited. Our thanks to the farmers and landowners who share the landscape with this large migratory bird species, as well as our OPAS volunteers. We rely on a dedicated and seasoned team of about 24 volunteers as our survey team, and are happy to include interested neighbors and photographers to help supplement our understanding of this majestic species.

OPAS Community Science Swan Study History and Background

During the winter of 2010/2011, five Trumpeter Swans were found dead in the Sequim area. Necropsies of the birds attributed their death to lead poisoning, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the swans ingested the lead in our area. It takes up to three weeks for a swan to die from lead poisoning, so they could have picked it up elsewhere before flying to this area.

When surveyors immediately report an injured, sick, or dead swan, Washington Department Fish and Wildlife can collect and remove the swan to determine the cause of the injury, sickness, or death. In the case of lead-poisoning, it is important to remove the swan as soon as possible so raptors and animals do not die of poisoning from feeding on the carcass. No lead poisoning deaths have been recorded in Sequim since the winter of 2010/2011.

Power lines are a significant cause of mortality for Trumpeter Swans, heavy-bodied birds that need plenty of room for takeoff and landing. The use of power line bird diverters by Clallam County PUD has mitigated the issue in most cases. 

Trumpeters have been known to visit Sequim since four were reported during the 1982 OPAS Christmas Bird Count. Their numbers remained in the single digits (two years reported zero) with the exception of 1986 (21), 1994 (10), and 1999 (25). By 2005, their numbers stayed in the double digits until 2011 when their numbers jumped to triple digits where they remained through the 2019/2020 season.

An all-time high of 258 Trumpeter Swans was recorded by our swan study volunteers on February 23, 2017.