Putting on a swan leg band, Summer Lake Wildlife Area, Oregon

‪@TrumpeterSwanSociety‬
Did you know many migratory birds are ‘marked’ with metal leg bands through the US Fish and Wildlife Service?
The young trumpeter swans that are released in the Oregon Restoration Project receive metal leg bands, as well as plastic neck collars. Each neck collar and leg band have unique codes for identification.
In this video, Brandon Reishus, Migratory Game Bird Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife explains how the large size and strength of trumpeter swans means a very strong leg band is needed for trumpeter swans. The leg band is a stainless flat 9C band that requires a few extra steps to attach securely to the swan.
If you look closely at the swan, you can see it is growing new flight feathers after molting. Because the young swan will learn to fly at Summer Lake Wildlife Area in Oregon, it will imprint on that location as a swan home. In future years the swan may find a permanent home in another area of Oregon or even beyond.
Retired Summer Lake Wildlife Area manager Marty St. Louis attaches the leg band. Zoo Idaho director Peter Pruett holds the young swan that will be released later that day.
Zoo Idaho has a special ‘winter swan home’ for young swans that will be released into the Oregon wild. It is in a remote area where young swans spend the winter to mature and become less habituated to people to prepare them for life in the wild.
Restoring wild trumpeter swans to the state is the project of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Trumpeter Swan Society, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Trumpeter swans had disappeared from the state by the turn of the last century and are being restored through the Oregon Restoration Program.
Video by Margaret Smith, Executive Director, Trumpeter Swan Society

[@bradbortner6982]

Hi Marty and Brandon.

[@MrSwan67]

For everyone wondering: this does not hurt the swan. The swan is doing a pretty good job considering that it has no idea what is happening

[@bigfluff73]

why is this necessary?

[@TrumpeterSwanSociety]

Thanks for asking the question! It's very important for tracking purposes. Each bird, or in this case swan, has unique codes on their leg bands/neck collars/wing tags when marked. When states/provinces have restoration programs they monitor the birds to see where they go, the landscapes they use, their mortality, if they have families and offspring, how long they live, etc. Without the ability to track the birds over time, none of that can be monitored to determine the restoration progress and how it meets the goals set for the restoration. An interesting outcome from the 'marking' of newly released swans in Oregon, we now know that one of the swans released in 2016 at Summer Lake Wildlife Area now has a home and mate in Montana. Other young swans marked and released at Summer Lake Wildlife Area have been reported in British Columbia and other areas of Oregon and Washington. None of that tracking information can happen without the unique identification of a particular swan and people reporting the 'marked' swans. You may find these pages on our website interesting- there are links to these pages we have in our Grades 3-5 Coloring and Activity education book. www.trumpeterswansociety.org/what-we-do/education-research-projects/midwest.html , www.trumpeterswansociety.org/what-we-do/education-research-projects/tracking.html
Margaret Smith, Executive Director, Trumpeter Swan Society
www.trumpeterswansociety.org/swan-information/swan-activity-books.html