As my wife and I walked around Philips Lake in southeast Columbia this morning, a pair of adult mute swans flew overhead. Graceful and quiet as they cruised above the lake, they were a beautiful sight to behold; one would not imagine that those swans are a potential menace.
As I discussed in my post from September of 2016, Mute Swans in the U.S., these large birds are native to Eurasia and were first introduced to North America in the late 1800s. Since that time, they have colonized the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Coasts as well as the Great Lakes Region. Looking at their range map on eBird, one finds that mute swans now inhabit or visit portions of all of the Lower 48 States. Unfortunately, they are aggressive birds, known to attack native waterfowl species, and are voracious consumers of aquatic vegetation, threatening the health of both coastal and interior wetlands.
Wildlife managers along the Eastern Seaboard attempted to establish a hunting season to control their population but that effort was blocked by swan-loving citizens. While efforts to eliminate invasive plants rarely catch the attention of the general public, the killing of swans, long associated with wilderness, royalty and fairytales is another matter; the fact that they may impact the welfare of our native trumpeter and tundra swans seems to carry little weight. Such are the consequences of careless introduction programs, a human habit that continues today.
As I discussed in my post from September of 2016, Mute Swans in the U.S., these large birds are native to Eurasia and were first introduced to North America in the late 1800s. Since that time, they have colonized the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Coasts as well as the Great Lakes Region. Looking at their range map on eBird, one finds that mute swans now inhabit or visit portions of all of the Lower 48 States. Unfortunately, they are aggressive birds, known to attack native waterfowl species, and are voracious consumers of aquatic vegetation, threatening the health of both coastal and interior wetlands.
Wildlife managers along the Eastern Seaboard attempted to establish a hunting season to control their population but that effort was blocked by swan-loving citizens. While efforts to eliminate invasive plants rarely catch the attention of the general public, the killing of swans, long associated with wilderness, royalty and fairytales is another matter; the fact that they may impact the welfare of our native trumpeter and tundra swans seems to carry little weight. Such are the consequences of careless introduction programs, a human habit that continues today.
