Swans signal spring’s onset

Thousands of graceful, but noisy, tundra swans are on the move through the Inland Northwest, part of a dramatic spring migration that often goes unnoticed because of the birds’ preference for isolation.

At Calispell Lake near Usk in Pend Oreille County, large flocks of swans arrived Sunday and are expected to remain about two weeks. Every March, they return to the marshy waterway northeast of Spokane, and from a distance their white bodies form masses of snowy color against a darker backdrop.

Their arrival often coincides with the end of winter – spring began Tuesday afternoon – and they remain at the lake typically until the end of March or early April.

John Stuart, an Audubon Society member who lives in the area, estimated 4,000 birds were on the lake Sunday and Monday, and said they could be seen from a nearby timbered section of Westside Calispell Road southwest of Usk.

Cold weather in January left the region’s lakes with thick ice, which is starting to break up along shorelines and shallows. The swans typically arrive as the ice melts.

“I think this year they are going to stick around a little longer because things are just a little later,” Stuart said.

In addition to Calispell Lake, swans can be seen in wetlands at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge south of Cheney, along the Colville River Valley near Chewelah and at Swanson Lakes Wildlife Refuge south of Creston.

But the largest population by far returns to Calispell Lake, probably because the shallow water offers a broad expanse of flooded marsh with only a few areas close to roads and trees.

The swans on Monday were floating in open water or standing on adjacent ice. Ducks and geese joined them.

While the swans are feeding and resting, at least one in each group stands guard. If humans or animals approach, they quickly fly off, using their feet and wings to lift out of the water, creating loud slapping sounds.

From several hundred yards away their high-pitched whistling calls and low-pitched whoops fill the air. The geese add a baritone squawk in a cacophony remarkable for its raw wildness.

“It’s a big deal,” said biologist Steve Zender of the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The western population of tundra swans typically winters on the Great Salt Lake in Utah, in central California and in coastal areas from Portland north to Vancouver, B.C. Small groups are frequently seen at the west end of the Columbia River gorge during the holidays.

Carol Mack, a bird-watcher who works for the agricultural extension service in Pend Oreille County, said on an extension service Web site (diggings.org) that about 50 swans were spotted in late December in the county during a recent mild winter.

As the urge to migrate builds, the swans can be seen taking flight in large groups at dusk. They will circle the lake, then some will peel off and head north up the Pend Oreille River valley, while the others will spiral back to the water.

The birds can fly 50 mph and should arrive at marshy breeding grounds on the tundra of western Alaska by midspring. There, they will hatch and protect their young prior to beginning the return flight in September. But on their return, the swans fly closer to the West Coast, apparently to protect against any sudden onset of winter weather inland, according to Mack’s research on the Web site.