My BIRDING magazine came the other day, and fell open to a photo I've seen before, in the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, of Carroll Henderson holding a swan. So, I read the article right away, and thoroughly enjoyed it!
I have been going to write a note to Carroll and to the MOU for a couple of weeks, but time gets away from one... We took a Sunday Drive recently, and saw small family groups of Trumpeter Swans along the St. Croix River in several spots. We frequently go through Centerville to get to I-35E, and over the winter have seen up to 30 swans between Peltier and George Watch lakes in the Rice Creek open water areas. My St Paul Audubon Society team does St Paul North's Area 2 for the annual Christmas Bird Count. For at least the last 5-7 years, the number of swans we've seen on Sucker Lake, the creek between, or at the north end of Lake Vadnais has been in the 25-33 range. Every time I see them, I think of those articles and how Carroll pulled the reintroduction off! Since I live a long home run from the south end of Carlos Avery, we recall seeing the hatching cages there, and hearing the story from the manager as to what they were used for. I am SO grateful to Carroll for not taking NO for an answer, when the opportunity arose for the DNR's Non-Game Wildlife (group? or just Carroll at that point?!) to begin the reintroduction. Holly Peirson SE Anoka Co. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
