Re: Trumpeter Swans in Potomac

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Hi all--

Don't forget that the Potomac River at the time of the referenced quotation
wass biologically *nothing like* the Potomac River of today. Major land
clearance in the watershed reached its peak after this time, and based on
paleoecological research by Grace Brush at Johns Hopkins, and others at
USGS, etc. it appears that in late 18th and early 19th centuries the river
and the Chesapeake Bay were dominated by benthic production. That is,
abundant rooted submerged aquatic vegetation, benthic diatoms, lots of
macroinvertebrates ranging from insects in fresh areas to small mollusks and
crustacea in saline portions, benthic feeding fishes such as drums and
sturgeon. The bottom was far less silty, there were plenty of gravelly areas
for species such as sturgeon to breed, which btw was once a major fishery
in the Potomac.

I would thus expect that the entire tidal portion of the Potomac, save the
actual deep channel, would be a feast spread out for thousands of ducks,
swans and geese, and undoubtedly attracted huge numbers of waterfowl in
winter. Accounts by early settlers and gunners are astounding as they
recount the clouds of birds which arrived each fall.

Gail Mackiernan

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