Rockford Swans

Over the last couple of years, Kate and I frequently drove past a
pond in Rockford, Illinois that was adjacent to the highway on
the way to her parents' farm. Although it was small, it became a
regular place to stop to check for herons and ducks. One day,
right after Thanksgiving, we spotted two big white birds in the
water and immediately stopped to check them out.

It was a pair of swans. Our first. Now, the question was, which
one. Black bill, no yellow in front of eyes, a little bit of
orange along the rim of the lower mandible. Hmm...a Trumpter
Swan?!?!?. No, it can't be. They are exceedingly rare in
Illinois and it was so unlikely as to be not worth considering.
We rationalized that the shape of the upper mandible just wasn't
right and decided on Tundra. Cool. Lifer.

We watched these birds all winter. The pond where they stayed
had an aerator so they just seemed to hang around. In addition,
we noticed some crates had been tossed over the fence (the pond
was completely fenced in) and some feeding was obviously taking
place. We thought it was nice that the locals were feeding the
birds.

Then, spring came. And the birds stayed. And they stayed. And
then, a NEST BOX appeared. And it then it was May. These birds
are just not supposed to be around in May!

Finally, I found out that there was a Rockford hotline, called
them and asked about these crazy swans. Defeat...crushing
blow...delete from AviSys. It turns out that these birds were
part of a TRUMPETER release program based in Wisconsin!

So, we were denied the thrill of finding wild Tundra Swans,
denied our lifers. BUT, we were proud of the fact that we had
identified them right the first time. AND, I was very glad that
I did not breathlessly call these birds into the Chicago hotline.

Jim Frazier
10/27/94