Ian and Tweeters,

As far as I know, there are no established, breeding populations of
Mute Swans in Washington. If anyone has information to the contrary,
I'd be interested in hearing about it.

However, that situation may be changing soon. Mute Swans have been
established as a breeding species on southern Vancouver Island
(Victoria and Duncan areas) since the 1960s. In Vancouver, although
there was no feral Mute Swan population until recently, there is now.
Dozens of Mute Swans have been in Vancouver's Stanley Park as long as
I can remember, but these birds are wing-clipped and cannot fly.
However, Mute Swans have been breeding in the Pitt Lake marshes for at
least 10 years now, and there are probably 5 or 6 breeding pairs, and
an increasing population. There is also an isolated breeding group at
Canoe Pass, an outlet of the Fraser River just west of Ladner, and up
to 6 flying, immature Mute Swans can be seen any day by persons
crossing the Westham Island bridge on their way to the Reifel Bird
Sanctuary. I started counting Mute Swans as a wild species in
Vancouver about 5 years ago, because they are breeding successfully
and increasing in numbers.

If nothing is done to get rid of this introduced population, I predict
that they will increase and spread into northwestern Washington before
long-- just the way that the Eastern Gray Squirrel has spread from
Vancouver into Whatcom County. (Maybe this was some kind of revenge
for the Eastern Cottontails, introduced into western WA, which spread
across the border into the Vancouver area many years ago.)

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net


----- Original Message -----
From: <birdbooker at zipcon.net>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 11:24 AM
Subject: Mute swans in WA


> HI ALL:
> I was wondering if/how many count mute swans in WA on your lists?
> --
> Ian Paulsen
> Bainbridge Island, WA USA
> A.K.A.:Birdbooker
> Rallidae all the way!
>