Re: Trumpeter Swans at Conowingo: MD List
Phil Davis (pdavis@ix.netcom.com)
Tue, 26 Jan 1999 03:41:41 -0500
At 04:40 PM 01/25/1999 -0500, Rick Blom wrote:
>Marcia wrote:
>
>I am excited about the possible historical significance -
>>when was the last time that a wild Trumpeter was seen on the Eastern Shore -
>>1920 or thereabouts?
>
> I have found no evidence that Trumpeter Swans ever occurred in the
>Chesapeake Bay. It is apparently speculation based on an anecdotal report
>from 1709 stating that two forms occurred in the Carolinas. That was more
>than 100 years prior to the species being described. They are not on the
>offical Maryland list and are not mentioned in Stewart and Robbins 1957.
>
>Rick
All -
Actually Trumpeter Swan is on the official Maryland list. The Maryland/DC
Records Committee accepted it last year (1998) as an extirpated species.
It had been general believed that the Trumpeter historically wintered in
the Chesapeake Bay area, however, all information seemed to be anecdotal
and second hand, as Rick indicated. However, last year, Harvey Mudd, the
Committee Chair, expended a great deal of effort to track down all possible
sources of corroborating documentation. His efforts paid off when he
obtained a copy of (are your ready for this?) "A new and comprehensive
gazetteer of Virginia and the District of Columbia containing a copious
collection of geographical, statistical, political, commercial, religious,
moral and miscellaneous information collected and compiled from the most
respectable, and chiefly from original sources: by Joseph Martin". This
book was published by Joseph Martin and printed by Mosely & Tompkins, in
1835 (!!!). This work includes published accounts of the Trumpeter's
winter occurrence on the Potomac River (which is Maryland waters) opposite
Occoquan, VA. The account reads:
"The Swan is not found nearer than about 30 miles below Washington: at the
mouth of the Occoquan, on the right bank of the river is his highest
feeding ground, which is the lowest spawning place of the white shad.
Here, and for some 30 or 40 miles below, this noble bird is seen floating
near the shores, in flocks of some two or three hundred, white as the
driven snow, and from time to time emitting fine sonorous, and occasionally
melodious songs, so loud that they may be heard on a still evening two to
three miles; there are two kinds, so called from their respective
notes--the one the trumpeter, and the other the slooper; the trumpeter is
the largest--and when at full size, will measure from five to six feet from
the bill to the point of the tow, and from the seven to eight feet from the
tip of one wing to the tip of the other, when stretched and expanded. ... "
(the account continues mostly about behavior).
Hope this helps.
Phil
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Phil Davis, Secretary
MD/DC Records Committee
home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland USA
work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland USA
MD/DCRC Web site: http://www.MDBirds.org
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