By Mark Miller KOMO News
CONWAY — Swaths of white birds are once again gathering in the brown, muddy farm fields of Skagit County.
The trumpeter swans have returned to spend the winter there, but along with their recent arrival has come an alarming spike in the number of swans dying in power line strikes.
Wildlife biologist Martha Jordan recently delivered more than a half-dozen carcasses to a drop box in the Skagit County community of Conway.
“All them have died of power line collisions,” said Jordan, executive director of the Northwest Swan Conservation Association.
“They’re big, beautiful birds and to keep losing them on these kinds of things . . . it never gets easier. I won’t say you even get used to it.”
Jordan said recent stormy weather is contributing to an increase in bird-wire fatalities
“They’ll hit them, especially in high winds, fog, when they’re hard to see,” she said.
Dangerous attraction
According to Jordan, the birds are also attracted to flooded fields, which are often surrounded by roads with power lines.
While trumpeter swans are graceful fliers, they are not especially nimble in the air.
At 25 to 35 pounds, a swan is not able to easily make sudden maneuvers to avoid lines.
Jordan recalled an especially heart-breaking experience when she had to retrieve a bird.
“A beautiful male hit a line and I went out to pick him up. And flying in and walking toward him, dead on the ground, was his mate. And their two juveniles. And I cried. Because they do mate for life,” she said.
Collisions are also costly to utility companies.
“A swan hurtling into the power lines can cause a huge power outage. So it’s expensive. But it’s also expensive in the cost of our wildlife,” said Jordan, who noted Puget Sound Energy has worked hard to reduce bird/wire accidents.
Safe spans
Puget Sound Energy’s website said the utility installs more than 400 avian-safe spans and poles each year to protect birds from electrocutions and collisions.
Small reflectors are installed on power lines throughout the region. Jordan estimates there are thousands of them.
Wildlife experts said as many as 15,000 trumpeter swans fly here from Alaska.
While they are not a threatened species, Jordan believes they are worth special protection.
“For whatever reason, the swan reaches back and touches something deep inside each and every person, and it’s very personal,” she said.
“Wildlife is precious and these birds are a beloved part of our winter canvas.”
Perhaps a larger threat to the swans is lead poisoning.
With their long necks, the birds are especially vulnerable to accidentally ingesting old lead shotgun pellets when they feed.
Lead shot has been illegal for years, but the pellets still reside in ponds and fields.
The Whatcom Humane Society, which takes in and rehabilitates injured and poisoned swans, is now treating 9 sick birds discovered to have dangerously high levels of lead in their bodies. All came in earlier this month.
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KOMO News is a news partner of the Peninsula Daily News.
