Up to now, Lake Nipissing Partners in Conservation was
known for its work with the lake's fish populations. Beginning in Mid-May,
the partners will add birds, as it introduces three breeding pairs of trumpeter swans
to Cranberry Marsh on Callander Bay.
It is the same area where a wild pair settled
last year, but were shot by a pair of hunters who mistook them for snow geese. They
were fined $2,000 in court Dec. 19.
Kevin O'Grady, the group's president, said
Wednesday the six birds have been raised by Harry Lumsden, a retired biologist with
the Ministry of Natural Resources. Lumsden, the driving force behind re-establishing
the swans, has flown over the marsh and believes it is ideal for the majestic,
giant waterfowl.
"We think it's a wonderful project," said O'Grady. "We're also looking
into the possibility of a walkway and a viewing platform so the public and
tourists can enjoy them."
He said Lumsden said the walkway and platform would be OK as long
as they are more than 400 metres from the birds. O'Grady said the two-year-old birds
will be tagged and their movements will be monitored. The swans, which feed on
aquatic plants, do not become mature enough to mate until they are four.Two
trumpeter swans, seen here feeding in the shallow waters of Lake Nipissing,
were shot and killed this fall.
Interest in the birds has escalated since Carol and Ron Cooke of Callander spotted one of them dead in the marsh Sept. 15.
They were heartbroken because they had tracked the wild pair in their airplane
during the summer. On the last occasion, they found one of the birds face down in
the water.
The birds, once near extinction in the province, now number 348.
There are 29 nesting pairs but none in Northern Ontario. At one time, the birds
summered on the James Bay and Hudson Bay shorelines. Cranberry Marsh has been
designated as a provincially significant wetland by the MNR.
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