On Monday September 10th, the partnership released eight Trumpeter Swan cygnets into Yellowstone National Park. Four birds were released at Elk Antler Creek on The Yellowstone River and four were released at Seven-Mile Bridge on the Madison River, halfway between West Yellowstone and Madison Junction. All the birds were banded with a yellow and black numbered band on one tarsus (leg) and a Federal metal band on the other tarsus. The eight birds released this year marked the seventh year that the WWS-RCF Partnership and
Yellowstone National Park have collaborated in the Trumpeter swan restoration effort. Since 2011, we have released 39 swans. Because it takes at least four to five years for swans to mature and form stable pair bonds, we are only now beginning to see results from this long-term effort. Of the birds released, at least 20 of them have survived and several are now paired.
Our hope is that beginning next year the number of breeding Trumpeter Swans within Yellowstone National Park will begin increasing. We will end the restoration work once Yellowstone National Park reaches its population goals.
