I was out with my grand daughters in July and possible saw one on our trip on the Gunpowder River. When I first started kayaking in early 2000, I recall seeing the mute swans during the fall. They were magnificent to hear flying overhead, but they were eradicated as an invasive species, due to it not migrating far which means it would feed on the food source through the entire year. Oddly, the Trumpeter is similar in that doesn’t migrate far, yet the Trumpeter is considered native to the region. I guess it depends on “perception more than reality.”
Originally decimated by hunters harvesting feathers for hats, this beautiful creature may be allowed to return. The mute swan not so lucky. It was eliminated from this ecosystem for eating. Truth is stranger than fiction.
The mute is an invasive species because it is non-native, having been introduced in North America by Europeans in the 19th century. It’s highly territorial and drives out many other species. It’s not because they don’t migrate far. The Trumpeter is native to North America.
Correct. The article explains that neother one migrates very far, so they remain in the area and have essentially the same environmental impact. The difference is one is targetted for extinction, but the other is being nurtured. Bad luck for the mute, eh! One has a lobby, the other doesn’t. Sure. I understand.
I recently saw an article about tiger lilies being an invasive species. They grow in areas of my yard that is not suitable for fickle, more delicate plants. You can actually eat the entire plant by the way, down to the root. The blossoms are tasty. Another recent article explsined how trees are causing polution in dome place like LA (California, not Lower Alabama).
“One of the world’s most aggressive waterfowl species, especially while nesting and raising their young, mute swans drive out native waterfowl and other wetland wildlife with their hostile behavior. Mute swans will chase native breeding birds from their nests.
“A single mute swan can consume four to eight pounds of plants a day. They uproot and destroy these wetland plants that are a main food source for native birds and cover for native fish and invertebrates. Continuous feeding by a flock of mute swans can destroy an entire wetland ecosystem.
“These large birds show little fear of people. Each year the DNR receives reports of mute swan attacks on people in boats and on shore.”
Then its a good thing they were eradicated. Mountain lions and wolve kill livestock and people, but they were reintroduced. Bear numbers dwindled . . .
Trumpeters are rare here in SE Michigan and getting rarer. I’ve never been attacked by or heard of anyone attacked by a trumpeter, but I jousted with mutes many times until I learned not to wear a white baseball cap while padding. Nothing gets your adrenaline up like something with an 8 foot wingspan flying at you, whacking the water the whole way.
I always carry a gun but I’d feel a lot better being attacked by that swan then I would by that bear or that pack of wolves. I have never felt any danger from a swan but I have several times from bears and wolves. I have never shot a grizzly but I have shot wolves and several black bears. (none of which were attacking me at the time, just to be clear)
The closest I have been to a grizzly was about 20 years ago when one walked about 8 feet from where I was hiding when I was hunting elk. The wind was strong coming from him towards me so he never knew I was there, but if you want to check your heart rate, be 8 feet away from a 7-1/2 foot boar grizzly when it’s also hunting, and you’ll remember it.
That I can promise you faithfully,
