Saw this news blurb from WDFW - thought folks up near 49 degrees might be
interested.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at OlyWa.net
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NEWS RELEASE
WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, Washington 98501-1091
Internet Address: http://www.wa.gov/wdfw

Date: November 15, 2001
Contact: Mike Davison, (360) 466-4345, ext. 280;
Or: Doug Williams, (360) 902-2256

Swans collared for lead-poisoning research
A rehabilitated and collared trumpeter swan will be released at Wiser Lake
Friday

Biologists from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and
their Canadian counterparts are accelerating a coordinated effort to find
out why trumpeter swans are still dying from lead poisoning, even though
lead shot has been banned in the United States and Canada for years.

A team of biologists from WDFW and the Canadian Wildlife Service are trying
to trap about 50 trumpeter swans and fit them with radio-transmitting
collars to monitor them during their annual migration. Ground crews will be
able to pinpoint exact habitats used by the swans and systematically check
those areas for concentrations of spent lead shot and develop removal plans.

The first trumpeter swan fitted with a radio-transmitting collar will be
released into the Wiser Lake wildlife site, south of Lynden, just off State
Route 539, at 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16. This particular bird, a sub-adult
female, was found shot and severely injured in northwestern Washington last
winter and has been rehabilitated at the Pilchuck Valley Wildlife
Rehabilitation Center.

"We have lost probably 200 to 300 trumpeter swans to lead poisoning over the
last few years," said WDFW wildlife biologist Mike Davison, who is heading
the trumpeter swan research effort. "This is a catastrophic die-off."

A few individuals are probably still using lead shot. However, the agency is
operating on the premise that most of these birds have been getting lead
poisoning from historically deposited lead, and not from current illegal
hunting. The swans, with their long necks, are likely reaching these shallow
underwater areas where spent lead shot is still present.

"As far as hunters are concerned, we're getting good compliance with the
non-toxic shot requirements," Davison said. Lead shot was banned in the
United States in the mid-1980s; Canada banned lead shot in the mid-1990s.

The overall health of the trumpeter swan population in Washington state is
strong, but the fact that swans are still dying from lead poisoning is a
concern to WDFW. Nearly three-quarters of the trumpeter swans that migrate
along the west coast's great Pacific Flyway winter in Washington state,
mainly in Whatcom and Skagit counties. More than 1,000 trumpeter and tundra
swans overwinter in Whatcom County alone.

"The birds are picking up lead in numbers and volumes that couldn't be found
randomly in a number of sites, so we think there are possibly a few key
areas that have very high lead concentrations that are poisoning the swans,"
Davison said.

The agency has aggressively sampled various areas the trumpeter swans use in
Washington state, and none have been found to have high lead concentrations.

"We found one area of interest in British Columbia that's just across the
border and falls within the flight radius of the birds we're studying with
unusually high levels of lead," Davison said, adding that biologists will
return to the lake next summer for a more intensive study.

Just one or two ingested lead pellets can kill a bird, and it usually takes
only 10 days from ingestion until a bird displays visible symptoms of lead
poisoning being displayed. How long the lead takes to kill the bird depends
on a number of factors, but it's usually a matter of three weeks to six
weeks.

Trumpeter swans are off-limits to hunting in both the U.S. and Canada. With
their bright white plumage and large size, the swans are one of the most
visible bird species in the region and attract big crowds to their
traditional wintering grounds in Skagit and Whatcom counties. The birds
arrive generally in late October and will stay in northwestern Washington
over the winter before beginning their northward migration in April. They
nest in central Alaska and points north.

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