The trumpeter swan is on the official Ohio bird list http://www.ohiobirds.org/site/library/checklist/official.php based on a few nineteenth-century specimens and archaeological remains identified. This species was more numerous and more widely distributed centuries ago, but persecution reduced its numbers and its breeding range (which apparently never included Ohio--see http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/swans.html ). Wild trumpeters are highly migratory, like all waterfowl breeding in the north, and swans were described in considerable numbers wintering in North Carolina marshes three hundred years ago. They undoubtedly passed through Ohio on the way. They don't do this today, even though many swans have been transplanted and fostered as close as Ontario, Michigan, Minnesota, etc. A few decades ago, these swans were widely characterized as near extinction, based on a remnant population out west, and their North American numbers were misrepresented as numbering in the dozens. Before long, however, large healthy populations--in the many thousands--were recognized in NW Canada and Alaska. These were remnants after human depredations, for the feather trade, of large populations killed mostly in the prairie wetlands of Canada. By this time, however, a movement had been started by organizations such as the Trumpeter Swan Society to 'bring back the swans.' State and provincial wildlife authorities were urged to introduce swans as "ambassadors of wetlands," and "repopulate" some highly imaginative breeding grounds in the US. Trumpeters on the open market are very expensive--often with four-figure prices--but the swans-everywhere crowd provided contacts with wild sources and propagators to supply birds more cheaply for these "restorations." Ohio and several other Midwestern states bought in, and here chicks were raised at the Cleveland Zoo, where visitors were invited to visit and coo over them; there was no attempt to avoid getting cygnets used to humans, and lots of the adults were captives anyway. Here, swans were eventually released at Magee Marsh, Killdeer Plains, and several smaller state WAs, as well as private properties such as The Wilds. The Feds never were in line with the swan project, but some were released at Ottawa anyway, or so I hear. The DOW has not made public the larger history of Ohio's introductions, or made all the numbers public, but swans were apparently extirpated at some areas, and failed to flourish at others. A lot of birds were found dead after hitting power lines, and numbers are shot by hunters each year and seen at check-stations. Ohio's introductions numbered about 150 swans in 11 sites in the state if I recall correctly; what are their numbers now? Are there any new locations in the state beyond the introduction sites, as one might expect from wild birds? What has been their impact on native waterfowl? A more complete report from ODOW of the swan project's outcomes would be of great interest and would influence decisions about establishment. Other Midwestern states--Michigan has been especially zealous in fostering trumpeters even though there is no good evidence swans ever bred there--bought into the introduction project. Most of these long-lived birds were originally fitted with neck-bands, but most have fallen off with time, so individual swans have become hard to track except through leg-bands. None of our introduced swans migrate in a normal fashion; instead they tend to move haphazardly as far as they need to go--not even necessarily south--to find open water. There are no identifiable ancestral "wintering grounds" for these planted birds, as in the old days. Swan enthusiasts have repeatedly tried to lead these birds on migration--with aircraft or balloons--without the slightest success. The trumpeters at Killdeer Plains are sedentary until all the water freezes, then move only as far as they need to; in one of the longer journeys, one ended up in a municipal park pool in Charleston, West Virginia,s surviving on handouts. I believe Troy Shively has a photo of one of the KPWA birds aggressively approaching me for a snack. Way too many birders think it's easy to separate tundras from trumpeters---but see the fine points at http://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/swan-identification.html and elsewhere. To be sure you're seeing trumpeters, visit Killdeer in the summer when wild tundras are long gone, or feel free to use the potato-chip test in winter. Check out Pond 33 at Killdeer, where a swan pair has driven out all other waterfowl pairs each spring. They are also formidable antagonists for bald eagles and mute swans. Our swans seem not to be flourishing in numbers since their introduction project ended in 2006; they have not adopted basic behaviors of wild swans, such as migration; swans from neighboring states' introduction projects seem to be in the same situation. If a legitimate bird from the large truly wild Alaska/NW Canada population should improbably show up, it might be interesting to identify it as such, but it will likely not be alone, or begging for food, or wintering at our latitude. A legitimate northern trumpeter might show iron oxide stains in its plumage; it will certainly not appear tame, and it will not be nesting here. I don't have the trumpeter swan on my Ohio list, and as a member of the Ohio Bird Records Committee I would welcome, but not expect, good documentation on the establishment of an Ohio population of this species. I suspect it will be years yet in the case of a long-lived species such as this, and trust this fact will not be too inconvenient for listers. If the DOW were to publish a peer-reviewed paper demonstrating the successful completion of this project that would help a lot, and that is what other records committees, such as the very busy Florida committee, require for introduced species. The ABA has identified some reasonable criteria for the establishment of introduced species--at least for inclusion in lists--which can be read at http://www.aba.org/checklist/exotics.html . The ABA wisely defers to state records committees on such matters. The criteria apply to species from outside the "ABA area," but the records committee has kept them in mind for locally introduced birds as well. --Not counting the sharp-tailed grouse the DOW released in Lucas County anymore, Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]