It’s fall and time for the return of migratory trumpeter swans to the San Juan Islands.

The San Juan Preservation Trust, in cooperation with the Trumpeter Swan Society and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, is coordinating an archipelago-wide effort to count the number of these birds that winter here each year. This year will mark the 18th consecutive year of the swan survey, conducted entirely by volunteers.

An average of 60 trumpeter swans migrate from their summer breeding grounds in Alaska each year to winter in the San Juan Islands (several thousand more winter in Skagit County). The swans prefer open, grassy habitat close to fresh or salt water.

Nearly extinct in 1940, the species has been recovering slowly yet steadily over the past half century. Although population numbers of the swans in North America have been on the rise, in Washington State hundreds of trumpeters die each winter from the effects of ingested lead shot (between 1999-2009, over 2,300 swans perished due to lead poisoning).

Lead shotgun pellets, illegal for waterfowl hunting, remain legal for other quarry. A disproportionate number of trumpeters seem to pick up lead shot on hunting grounds, either accidentally while feeding or intentionally while seeking grit. Survey data has been vital in tracking the swan’s population status.

Amateur birders are encouraged to participate, as trumpeter swans are easy to spot…the only tricky part can be distinguishing them from tundra swans (which do not visit the islands in as great numbers as the trumpeters). Identification materials will be provided for all volunteers. The survey period ranges from Nov. 1 until March 31, and volunteers will be assigned a “territory” based on convenience for the volunteer.

More volunteers are needed throughout the archipelago to assist in the surveys. Interested volunteer applicants may contact Vicky Miller, volunteer survey coordinator for the San Juan Preservation Trust, at vickymiller@hotmail.com or (360) 202-2968.