John--
    The chance is next to zero that a trumpeter swan seen in Ohio is
from a truly wild population. The most recent trumpeter accepted in Ohio
was from 108 years ago. There are so many introduction projects in
nearby states--many of them, including Ohio's, now producing birds
without any collars or bands--that proving wild natural origin would be
next to impossible. That said, even introduced species can over time
establish wild viable populations. The OBRC has not yet worked out
detailed criteria for when and under what conditions certain introduced
populations might be considered established. Records committees in
California and Florida--with all their released exotic birds--have
worked hard on this, as you can imagine, and their work will be helpful.
In my own opinion, and I have studied this long-lived species, if Ohio
trumpeter swans are flourishing without human assistance in 35-40 years,
a good case could be made that they're established, just as mute swans
are established. I would argue that the fact that none of these swans
undertake migration like true wild trumpeters will always make their
status dubious, but that is the case with mute swans, too. In nearby
states and provinces, Illinois and Michigan consider their trumpeters
countable, but Ontario and Indiana do not. As far as I know, Michigan
birders do not count Ohio or Ontario trumpeters on their Michigan lists,
for example. My advice would be to wait and see, and in the meantime go
out west to see the real thing.
Bill Whan
Columbus

John Habig wrote:
> This question is addressed more to the OBRC but I posted it here because
> I hear the question raised quite often.
>
> When (or where) can you count Trumpeter Swans in Ohio? I know that ODNR
> released them at Killdeer, Ottawa, and the Wilds and that these are
> technically not ABA countable, but what if you see them somewhere else
> and they are not tagged and appear to have gotten there by their own
> means?
>
>
> John Habig
> 261 Lantis Dr.
> Carlisle, Ohio 45005
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>

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