Prairie wanderings: Swans at Marion Reservoir
By PAUL G. JANTZEN
Contributing writer
Ranger Neal Whitaker called to tell me he sighted several swans a mile and one-half west of Durham Cove at Marion Reservoir. So Jan. 14 Elaine and I set out to see the swans. We passed the field where Neal had seen them, but we saw no swans. On our return to the cove, we saw two swans in the very field we passed just minutes ago.
After several minutes of observation, the big white birds took flight toward the treed area near the reservoir. Following in the general direction, we find them swimming in the water. They still are too distant for specific identification so we head toward them across a prairie of Indian and little Bluestem grasses.
Suddenly, I am distracted by some dark object at the center of an area of flattened grasses. It is a deer's carcass, probably a white-tail. Its body has been torn open, rib cage and spinal column nearly stripped clean of flesh by either the carnivore that killed it or a scavenger such as a coyote or turkey vulture. Its internal organs have been spread into a flattened black mass by creatures seeking nutrients for their own sustenance. Flies and carrion beetles are crawling over the vital organs seeking their share of the catch. Whatever caused the deer's death began the process of decomposition which will be continued by ants, dung beetles, nematodes, bacteria, fungi, and other decomposers that recycle nutrients, returning them to the soil making them available to prairie plants, thus sustaining the grassland ecosystem.
But I must move on before the swans escape my attention. At the water's edge, I finally can see the swans' beaks through binoculars. Roger T. Peterson's bird guide illustrates the two most likely swans we might see here; the mute swan has a knobbed orange beak, while the smaller tundra swan has a black bill. The tundra swan is America's more common native swan, also called whistling swan. With a length of just under five feet, it has a wingspread of six to seven feet and a very long neck which sometimes takes an S-shape while the bird swims. I now see its beak is black.
An ornithologist plucking a tundra swan once collected 25,216 feathers, 80 percent of which came from the head and very long neck. The sight of the stately swans in the placid reservoir waters recalls the words, "The graceful white swan goes gliding along
Tundra swans breed in summer in arctic wetlands and river deltas from the Aleutian Islands east across the northern tundra regions of Alaska, Yukon, Arctic Ocean, and northern Hudson Bay area. In winter, they migrate south into the U.S., usually along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and, very rarely, as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. Kansas ornithologists describe them as rare migrants and casual winter visitors in Kansas. These are the first ones I've seen.
Tundra swans feed primarily on the seeds, stems, roots, and tubers of submerged and emergent water plants at the margins of wetlands. They eat very small quantities of animal matter such as worms, shellfish, aquatic beetle larvae, and dragonflies. The swan's long neck permits feeding as much as three feet under water.
These swans nest on the ground in or on the borders of marshes. In monogamous pairs, they build huge nests of grasses, mosses, and other water plants. Some nests are two feet high and six feet across. When the female leaves her nest she covers the eggs with mosses which provide warmth and safety. The three to six dull white eggs hatch in June under the midnight sun.
Meanwhile, the parents molt off their flight feathers and are, for awhile, unable to fly.
Migrating tundra swans usually have been seen in Kansas between November and April. They fly in V-formation at altitudes of 660 to 1,650 yards (even up to 3,300 yards). Some think their high flights function to avoid civilization. They always are endangered by hunters who are enthralled by their size.
These swans have a variety of calls. Sounds of old males have been described like a base horn or trumpet. Others compare their sound to that of a Canada goose. The flock's leader passing high overhead utters a high note. Peterson describes it as a high-pitched cooing.
This species has seen its populations reduced due to declines in submerged aquatic vegetation, especially in wintering areas. This has driven the swans to feed in grain fields. But populations have grown since the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty took affect. Some east and west coast wintering areas even have limited hunts by permit. The hunting has been justified by population increases, interest in trophy hunting, and damages to agricultural crops. Others say the swans cause few economic or social problems.
Some swan mortality occurs during migration or wintering by lead poisoning from lead shot and lead fishing sinkers mistaken by the swans to be seeds or gravel which they use as grit. Oil and gas drilling pose the greatest potential threat to their breeding habitats.
Swans often appear in legends, fairy tales, or operas as in Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin."
Again, "The graceful white swan goes gliding along like a maid in a heavenly dream."
