Trumpeter Swans are a success story for protective legislation.

For years they were on the Endangered Species list, the victims of hunting, the plumage trade, and habitat loss. As recently as a couple of years ago they were listed as Vulnerable. But now Trumpeter Swans are off the list and prospering.

The current North American population of Trumpeter Swans, the continent's largest waterfowl species, is estimated at about twenty thousand and growing, says Jim Hawkings, biologist with Environment Canada in Whitehorse.

"Every year swans are turning up in new spots."

No one knows how low the population dropped, says Hawkings. In 1933, only 66 Trumpeter Swans could be located in the United States. However, there were Trumpeter Swans in Alaska that hadn't been identified as Trumpeters, he says, so the population was probably much higher.

Protected under the Migratory Birds Convention, Trumpeters have been making a spectacular recovery. Population surveys show the breeding population in the Yukon and Alaska has doubled every decade since the 1950s.

This summer there will be more than 16,000 Trumpeter Swans spread across the Yukon and Alaska, about three-quarters of the North American population. They nest in wetlands, mainly below treeline, from southern Yukon areas like the Nisutlin River up to the Fort Yukon area of north-central Alaska.

In the southern Yukon, the spectacular white birds are a familiar sign of spring. Thousands of swans stop to feed at staging areas like Tagish Narrows and M'Clintock Bay on Marsh Lake, before heading further north to nest.

There might be 2,500 swans or more at M'Clintock Bay at the height of the migration, says Hawkings. It's hard to count them accurately because they are constantly moving back and forth. In addition, some swans arrive and others leave every day, making it difficult to say how many in total depend on these areas every spring.

Not all the swans that pass through the southern Yukon are Trumpeter Swans. The slightly smaller Tundra Swans use the same feeding areas on their way to breeding grounds in the far north, above the treeline.

The Trumpeter Swans arrive first, Hawkings says. The earliest swan sightings are usually in March, and until mid-April almost all swans in the Yukon are Trumpeters.

In the second half of April the Tundra Swans begin arriving. During the height of the migration, about the third week in April, both species can generally be seen from the Swan Haven interpretive centre at M'Clintock Bay.

A couple of weeks later, most of the swans still migrating will be Tundra Swans. The Trumpeters will already have pushed on further north in order to reach their nesting grounds as early as possible.

About 1200 Trumpeter Swans from two populations nest in the Yukon, Hawkings says.

Swans from the large Pacific Coast population, named for its wintering areas along the Pacific coast, nest in the southwest Yukon, probably as far east as the Nordenskiold River. Swans from the Rocky Mountain population, which winters primarily in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, nest in the Watson Lake, Ross River and Mayo regions.

A few small groups breed between those two distinct populations, in areas like the lower Nisutlin River. Biologists are not sure which population they belong to, says Hawkings.

The swans are such an important part of Yukon spring that an official Celebration of Swans festival has been held every year since 1994. The festival, which takes place when the swans are most abundant, features community events, guided walks, and long hours of viewing at the Swan Haven interpretive centre. In 1998 the festival will be held from April 18 to 26.

For information about this year's Celebration of Swans, contact the Yukon government's Wildlife Viewing Biologist at (867) 667-8291.

For more information about Trumpeter Swans, contact Environment Canada in Whitehorse, or check out the Trumpeter Swan Society's new web page at http://www.taiga.net/swans.