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>> owner@chebucto.ns.ca]On Behal
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Thanks for the information.
Rob
c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca wrote:
Hi folks,
On 4-Jun-07, at 11:56 AM, <adslaun@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote:
After reading through this thread again, I did a quick google search on mute swans..
National Geographic had some info regarding the mute swans.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0621_040621_muteswansinvasivespecies.html
I wasn't aware of any of the controversy.
A very interesting article which says (in part):
Speaking last year, the (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) director, Steve Williams, said: "Wildlife biologists and refuge managers have significant concerns about the impacts of growing populations of non-native mute swans on native birds and their habitats. Mute swans can cause extensive habitat degradation in wetland habitats."
In the Chesapeake Bay some 3,600 birds consume 10.5 million pounds (4.8 million kilograms) of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) each year, said Jonathan McKnight. McKnight is the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) biologist responsible for the state's response to invasive species.
He said water plants targeted by the swans—including eelgrass, wigeongrass, and sago pondweed—act as important nursery areas for fish and invertebrates.
"SAV beds are the basis of a complex web of life in Chesapeake Bay," McKnight added. "They are the homes of seahorses and pipefish, of crabs and juvenile fish, of ducks and herons."
These beds have already been affected by declining water quality, and now mute swans threaten those that remain, McKnight said.
Their aggressive behavior has also led to the displacement of native birds from nesting and feeding areas, he said. "Mute swans are responsible for driving the last remaining colony of black skimmers from Chesapeake Bay."
The Great Lakes may face similar pressures, with Canada-based scientists suggesting mute swan populations are growing by up to 30 percent each year on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. And in Wisconsin conservationists fear efforts to reintroduce the trumpeter swan could be undermined by the presence of its larger, more aggressive cousin.
Clearly there are significant concerns.
Cheers,
Chris
From: Rob Woods <rrtwoods@yahoo.com>
Date: 2007/06/04 Mon AM 09:02:52 EDT
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] re possible multiple Mute Swans in our area?
Please explain why the Mute Swan is such a dangerous alien species compared to any other alien species. Does it carry some disease that threatend the north american swans, is it food competition, why?
Swans are a bird that attract the non birding publics attention. One could use breeding swans as a way to educate the public the about wildlife watershed habitat to help protect our area lakes from chemical spills and overdevelopment so that all waterfowl has the opportunity to breed successfully.
While I agree these swans are more likely imports who is to say that a population of European Swans or other species like Rooks or Jackdaws etc could not get blown via an atlantic storm to Newfoundland in significant numbers attempt to establish a local population. The population could then expand from there. Should they be destroyed as well. Humans may have provided nature a way to keep a species around by assisting it accross the atlantic from Europe where loss of habitat for many species is a bigger concern that it is here. Should one not look for the positives of the successful breeding of Swans in Nova Scotia than the cry for their destruction.
Rob Woods
Georgefield
Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> wrote:
As I understand it, Mute Swans are dangerous alien species (impacting other waterfowl among other problems), and need to be monitored for possible breeding activity. Please everyone let us know if there is evidence of more than one of these possible escapees around and freely moving around. There is a feral/wild/established population along the eastern seaboard that has been spreading from New York, but I don't know its current distribution. Also I think there is another feral population in south-central Canada, but again I don't know its distribution -- just southern Ontario?, e.g. Wye Marsh?
Remember the breeding Mute Swams of the mouth of the Sackville River a few years ago? That never should have been allowed to happen at all -- we were all asleep at the wheel, as were the federal authorities in that case.
Cheers from Jim in Wolfville
----------
From: "d.bridgehouse" <d.bridgehouse@ns.sympatico.ca>
Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:15:41 -0300
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Subject: RE: [NatureNS] Fw: Swan in Sullivan's Pond
The swan was haning out by the sluce gate (inflow) gate from L.Banook when I was by this AM . I believe it is a Mute Swan but I'm no expert
What a beauty ! ! !
Cheers , DerekB.
-----Original Message-----
From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca]On Behalf Of Hans Toom
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 10:08 AM
To: Naturens@Chebucto.Ns.Ca
Subject: [NatureNS] Fw: Swan in Sullivan's Pond
----- Original Message -----
From: Hans Toom <mailto:Htoom@hfx.eastlink.ca>
To: Ns-Rba@Yahoogroups.Com
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 10:06 AM
Subject: Swan in Sullivan's Pond
Gayle MacLean contacted me this morning about a swan in Sullivan's Pond. If someone's in the area check it out. It's probably a Mute Swan but perhaps something else.
Hans
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Hans Toom
Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada
E-mail: htoom@hfx.eastlink.ca
Migration Count: http://hanstoom.com/NAMC/Index.html
Nature Website: http://hanstoom.com
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adslaun@ns.sympatico.ca
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<div>Thanks for the information.</div> &l