Forwarding this on behalf of Mark Shieldcastle:
Just to correct some miss-information on the list-serve:
There are specific protocols for swan collars by species that can be
reviewed on the Bird Banding Lab website at www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/
In short, Trumpeter swans have green, red or yellow collars while Tundra
swans are assigned gray, black, or blue collars.
Ohio has never used black collars.  We started with green collar with
white lettering on the reintroduction project and are now using yellow
with black lettering.  Codes are all 3 digit (except some very old 4
digit collars not in this region).  Codes should read as follows
(L=Letter, N=Number) LNN, NLN, NNL.
Tundra swan codes are mostly 4 digit but can be 3 as well.  They
generally read LNNN, LLN, LNL, NLL.
Hope this clears up the question.  For more info visit the BBL web site
or contact the Division of Wildlife.
Mark Shieldcastle
Project Leader, Wetland Wildlife Research
ODNR, Division of Wildlife
Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station
13229 W SR 2
Oak Harbor, OH 43449
419-898-0960 x 23
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