The trumpeter swan is the largest waterfowl species in North America, weighing 25-35 pounds with a wing span of nearly eight feet. Trumpeter swans were once a common nesting bird in Minnesota marshes. However, by the 1880s they had disappeared from Minnesota due primarily to market hunting for meat and feathers for powder puffs. In the 1960’s, the Hennepin County Park District (now Three Rivers Parks) attempted a swan restoration project, but were unable to establish a sustainable wild population. The Minnesota Zoo’s first pair of trumpeter swans was acquired from Hennepin Parks in 1978. In 1980, the Zoo partnered with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Nongame Program in a new effort to restore trumpeter swans to their former range in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Zoo’s role in the restoration effort was to breed and rear as many swans as possible for release into the wild. This would supplement the swans (92) that were hatched from eggs collected in Alaska by the Minnesota DNR. The Zoo acquired two additional breeding pairs of swans that were genetically different from the pair already at the Zoo. The Zoo also set up two additional breeding pairs of swans, one at the Bramble Park Zoo and the other at the Louisville Zoo. All of the young (cygnets) raised were donated to the restoration program. The release birds were sexed, marked with orange numbered wing tags (left for female, right for male) and USFWS leg bands. The first release occurred in 1986 and was followed by yearly releases throughout the state. The last trumpeter swan release occurred in 2011. A total of 355 swans were released, 181 came from the Minnesota Zoo.

In addition to raising swans for the restoration effort, the Zoo also housed many of the other swans that were released. In order to reduce the mortality on young/nonbreeding release birds, the swans were not released until they were two years old. Trumpeter swans do not usually breed until they are three years old. During that time, it was not unusual to see a flock of 30 trumpeter swans on the Zoo’s main lake. Birds from other Midwestern restoration projects also spent time at the Zoo. The Zoo hatched eggs collected in Alaska by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for their restoration project and reared cygnets for the Wisconsin Restoration program.

It has been 30 years since the first trumpeter swans were released in North-Central Minnesota. When these swans were released there were no wild (free-flight) trumpeter swans in Minnesota. Today there are an estimated 17,000 wild trumpeter swans in the state. The call of the Trumpeter swan can once again be heard throughout Minnesota, due in large part to the Minnesota Zoo and its staff’s commitment to saving wildlife.